The Waterloo region conducts surveys concerning the experiences of all types of immigrants including skilled temporary workers, refugees, international students, and their families after they immigrate to the area.
The survey summarizes the impact of newcomers on the region, determining their contribution to the region after they immigrate. It also gives a gist of all the complications they must face and the possible solutions to improve difficult situations.
The survey had over 1,500 participants who provided feedback. The participants also included newcomers and people living in Canada for at least up to five years.
Waterloo- a boon for tech talent
Waterloo is home to tech talent as it comprises nearly 1,600 businesses related to the tech industry. Information Technology and Analytical Instruments also exist on a larger scale in the Waterloo region in Canada.
90 percent of people responding to the survey had acquaintances and family members already living in the region, as a result of which they too decided to settle there. The rest of the people chose to settle in the area because of the excellent reputation of the region consisting of post-Secondary institutions and employment offers.
Possible solutions to the challenges faced by people
The new arrivals coming to the Waterloo region are highly educated compared to the entire population in the region. As per the survey, over 51 percent of people reported that they could find work in the same occupation fields as in their previous job.
However, most of their challenges were about finding proper jobs, budget-friendly housing, and a lack of social connections.
50 percent of participants also reported that their experience in the Waterloo region remained satisfactory and positive. They even suggested making it easier to get jobs by promoting and highlighting the positive aspects of recruiting newcomers and retaining them in the country.
Tech Workers- Permanent Residence pathways
Express Entry
Most candidates who receive permanent residence through Express Entry invite belong to the tech industry. FSWP is the most renowned and reputed pathway under Express Entry and applies to those candidates with work experience of one year. Most of the tech sector jobs fall under these categories only.
As an alternative, CEC can be utilized by candidates with one year of work experience in Canada in the previous three years.
The Express Entry system is just a matter of two steps:
- Candidates must check their eligibility under the stream they are interested in applying for.
- After self-assessment, they must check whether they are eligible for the same or not, if yes then they must continue with their profile creation on IRCCs official website. CRS scores will be provided to candidates and on receiving superior scores they will receive an invitation to apply for PR.
IRCC continues to conduct draws once in two weeks. After they receive an ITA, they will be able to apply to IRCC and as per IRCCs standard processing time, it will be processed within six months.
Express Entry modifications will be implemented in 2023
The Express Entry system has most tech jobs that receive invitations to apply. IRCC has planned to introduce invitation draws based on the work criteria instead of the CRS to make sure that those who are employed to individuals who can genuinely reduce the Canadian labor market gap. This plan will be implemented in the early part of 2023.
Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
Every province and territory in Canada consists of its PNP. Quebec and Nunavut are exceptions to this. Provincial Nominee Programs are highly beneficial for selecting candidates to apply for PR and fit perfectly for the provincial labor market.
Ontario aims to welcome 9,700 newcomers via the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. Ontario Tech Draw is another immigration pathway for people with prior tech industry experience.
Ontario consists of NOC-listed jobs with their eligibility in the tech draw, provided they meet language requirements and educational criteria.
Temporary Work Permits- tech workers
Global Talent Stream (GTS)
The Global Talent Stream was introduced only to enhance the tech industry’s growth. It is a work permit program through which the government wants to hire potential employees by following the standard processing time of two weeks.
GTS is a temporary work permit pathway that can lead you to permanent residency in Canada. It is a critical part of the TFWP, involving several steps to provide employment.
The foremost step would be to obtain an LMIA from the ESDC (Employment and Social Development Canada). EDSC assesses the possibility of the hired workers having a positive, negative or neutral impact on the Canadian labor market.
The eligibility of the employers will rely on the above two categories:
Category A
Category A applies to companies that contact the EDSC with the help of a referral partner. Referral partners are usually associated with the local and governmental agencies willing to support the local economies. Eligible employees have specialized knowledge and experience in a specific tech sector. If an employee’s occupation is already a part of the Global Talent Occupations List, the employee must shift to category B.
Category B
Category B concerns employers seeking to hire employees with jobs listed on The Global Talent Occupations List, such as information system analysts, designers, and software engineers. These are known as In-demand occupations and there has been a shortage of the required skills in the Canadian labor force.
CUSMA
CUSMA is a type of temporary work permit and people having tech talent from anywhere in North America can apply for Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. This work permit helps in promoting the spread of talent between countries. The agreement is further classified into two categories:
Professionals
CUSMA comprises 63 occupations listed under the Professionals category. System Analysts and Software Engineers dominate the tech industry.
Intra-Company Transfers
When employees transfer to their company’s branch in Canada from a multinational company, it is referred to as Intra-Company Transfers. The person who gets transferred to the Canadian branch is often someone from a Managerial position or has specialized knowledge.
Non-CUSMA ICTs
The companies don’t need to be in the U.S or Mexico to remain eligible under ICT. If a company across the globe comprises its established Canadian branch, employees from other companies can opt for Canadian transfer without obtaining an LMIA.
