Toronto destination for high tech immigrants

Toronto is the fourth hottest high tech talent market in North America, after San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, ahead of New York, Boston, Austin and the rest. This is partly due to the city’s comfort with immigrants (51% of residents are foreign-born) and to Canada’s more hospitable approach to skilled immigration.

Toronto’s population of software developers, engineers and programmers grew by more than half between 2012 and 2017. The 82,100 technology jobs it added over that period made it North America’s fastest-growing tech centre.

“There’s a chill going on south of the border,” says Toby Lennox, chief executive of Toronto Global, the group tasked with attracting foreign investment to North America’s fourth-largest city. “Right now we’re positioning ourselves to be a lot more welcoming.”

Canada already grants foreign students work permits for up to three years after graduation, and in June 2017 the country’s immigration and employment authorities launched what they called their Global Skills Strategy, with the goal of making it easier for employers to bring in highly skilled foreign workers.

Among its promises was that work permits for such individuals (and their families) would be processed within two weeks, subject to police and medical checks. Within little more than a year, more than 12,000 people had applied, of whom 95 per cent had been accepted.

Some had applied for American H-1Bs and been turned down

The most common professions among those admitted under Canada’s skilled worker policies were developers, computer analysts, university professors and software engineers.

From the Financial Times

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