The H-1B Visa: Canada’s Open Work Permit for Tech Workers
Canada this year offered specialised workers on the American H-1B visa the option to transfer directly to a Canadian work permit with almost identical conditions. Announced mid-June in 2023 at the global tech conference Collision in Toronto, the work permit was so popular only a month later that it attracted sufficient interest in 2 days to fill the Canadian government’s fixed yearly quota of 10,000 applications. In this article, we cover the basic application requirements and conditions of the Canadian H-1B visa work permit as well as aspects of North American immigration trends and policy motivations that are behind the permit’s creation and popularity.
Canadian H-1B visa holder work permit requirements
Canada’s H1-B visa holder work permits became available on 16 July 2023, when holders of the American H-1B visa also living in the US could use the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) portal to apply for a three-year ‘open work permit’ in Canada. As with holders of the US H-1B visa, recipients of the Canadian H-1B work permit could also apply for temporary residency of their immediate family members.
Open work permits allow applicants for work-related residencies in Canada to forego finding employment before applying for a visa — the permit in other words is not ‘job-specific’. This easing of the job specificity requirement comes with several obvious administrative advantages, amongst which include the entitlement to avoid having to obtain, as applicants for job-specific visas would, a labour market impact assessment from Employment and Social Development Canada and proof of an offer of employment from a Canadian employer.
Canada’s H1-B visa open work permits require only that the applicant provide:
1) a copy of a valid US H-1B visa;
2) a copy of their Form I-797 or I797B Notice of Action (letters from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (‘USCIS’) that confirm the receipt of details from visa applicants); and
3) proof of residency in the US, such as a utility bill or income tax report.
Canada’s open work offer to H-1B visa holders was so popular when it began on 16 July that the IRCC managed to fill its quota of 10,000 applications within 48 hours (by the end of 17 July). H-1B visa holders still looking to move north via Canada’s H-1B work permit will therefore need to wait until July 2024 or later to apply.
The US ‘Specialty Occupation’ Visa and the Rush to Canada
Canada’s offer of open work permits for US H-1B visa holders forms a key part of the country’s ‘Tech Talent Strategy’, another governmental initiative that implements targeted intakes of temporary residents to cure labour shortages in sectors that both require workers with specialised skills and promise to benefit exponentially the Canadian economy where it undergoes continuing innovation.
The US H-1B visa permits holders of the visa to live and work for three years in the US and requires sponsorship by the visa applicant’s employer. The USCIS mandates that US H-1B visa holders must also possess “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge” and at the minimum a bachelor’s degree or higher in the area of the specialized knowledge that will be applied as a part of the visa holder’s work for the sponsoring employer. The visa, in other words, is realistically only available to university professors and teachers, lawyers, niche engineers, and senior financial analysts, amongst other applicants who demonstrate higher levels of vocational expertise.
In practice however, a significant percentage of H-1B visa recipients work in specialized areas of tech, e.g. 70% of approved H-1B visa recipients in the 2021 financial year . The Canadian government’s offer of a seamless transition from American H-1B visa status to Canadian temporary worker therefore aims to capture the bulk of US tech workers on the specialty occupation visa scrambling to find a position in the booming migration to America’s tech hubs or laid off from roles amidst the downsizing trends that have affected US tech companies in more recent years.
The Canadian H-1B visa provides those layoffs with an opportunity to continue their work in North America whilst continuing to nourish North American economic growth through specialised tech skills and knowledge. In addition, and as the IRCC insists in its announcement of the Tech Talent Strategy, the visa category also allows for streamlined transfers of employees between the US and Canada for tech companies with large operations in both countries, elevating North America’s legitimacy globally as a hub of innovation and advanced tech opportunities, enterprises, and business administration. In summary, the easing of mobility across the Northern American continent via tech and digital industry employment forms just one of many measures introduced in recent years by Canada with the intention to assist the country with remaining competitive with other tech hubs across the globe.
If you would like to know more about the Canadian H-1B visa work permit or other migration pathways, don’t hesitate to contact Borderless Counsel at info@borderlesscounsel.com.