Indians who might once have wanted to move to the United States are increasingly looking at Canada for work and immigration opportunities. Over 39,600 Indian citizens obtained permanent residency in Canada in 2018, a 50% increase over the 26,300 Indian citizens who were awarded permanent residency in 2017. In 2018 Canada admitted 92,231 new permanent entry residents through Express Entry, up 41% from 2017, with 42% or 36,308 invitations issued to India. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's (IRCC) Express Entry 2018 year-end report,
"The top countries of citizenship based on the people admitted to Canada generally mirrors those of invited candidates. Nearly half of all people admitted in 2018 had Indian citizenship."
Indians who want to move to the U.S. are having difficulty obtaining a H1-B visa due to changes made to immigration policies by the Trump administration including quota cutbacks, processing delays, denials of visa extensions, green-card backlogs or a proposed plan to revoke the H1-B holder's spouses' right to work.
Indians with a STEM background (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) may qualify for Canada's Global Talent Stream (GTS), a new workstream established by IRCC which allows certain highly-skilled foreign nationals to obtain priority processing with a target of two-weeks to obtain their Work Permits. GTS allows employers to submit a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to prove they were unable to recruit a Canadian employee. Job applicants hired via GTS earn valuable Canadian work experience which improves their qualifications and score if they apply for Permanent Residence under Express Entry. Express Entry is based on a scoring system with points for skills, experience education, language, family in Canada and other qualifications.
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Canada's 2019 budget has commitments from Canadian employers to create 40,000 new jobs for the Canadian and permanent residents under the GTS. The Canadian government welcomes skilled immigrants as Permanent Residents to Canada based on their ability to settle in Canada successfully and has created many programs to recruit educated, skilled foreign workers to Canada to help grow the economy.
The Council of Canadian Innovators welcomed the government's 2019 decision to make Global Talent Stream Pilot Program permanent:
"the two-week visa processing time has been a game changer for Canadian scale-ups looking to build a team around uniquely skilled workers with global experience from outside of Canada.”
How to Move to Canada from India
There are many different opportunities for people to move to Canada from India including business immigration, student visas, a job transfer or via family sponsorship. Immigration lawyers understand the many immigration options and eligibility requirements and have the knowledge and expertise to navigate complex Canadian immigration rules and regulations, to solve problems and remove obstacles to help smooth the way to new opportunities in Canada.
For work. For family. For life.
An immigration lawyer can help determine your qualifications to move to Canada and evaluate which programs are the best opportunity based on your skills and education. Please contact our office to discuss your case.
