Canada’s Tech Workers Shortage A Boon For Immigrants
Canada employment portal, Indeed, reported that start-ups in some of Canada’s largest technology markets – Toronto, Vancouver Montreal and Ottawa – are struggling to grow because they cannot find candidates with the right skill sets. Positions such as Computer Vision Testers, Penetration Testers and Ruby on Rails Developers take the longest to fill and employers are getting desperate.
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As estimates suggest the Canadian technology industry will be short by more than 200,000 workers by 2021. The Canadian government is targeting its immigration policy at making it easy to hire important technology workers from abroad. The government’s Global Talent Stream enables candidates in the hardest to fill technology occupations to have their visas and work permits processed in only two weeks.
Canada’s Hardest to Fill Technology Vacancies
| Job title | NOC Code | Percentage of vacancies open for 60 or more days | |
| 1 | Computer Vision Engineer | 2147 | 56 |
| 2 | Penetration Tester | 2147, 2171, 2281 | 51 |
| 3 | Ruby on Rails Developer | 2147, 2171, 2172 | 43 |
| 4 | Operations Engineer | 2141, 2147 | 41 |
| 5 | Release Engineer | 2173 | 40 |
| 6 | C Developer | 2175 | 37 |
| 7 | Machine Learning Engineer | 2132 | 37 |
| 8 | System Engineer | 0211 | 35 |
| 9 | Chief Engineer | 0211 | 34 |
| 10 | Security Engineer | 2171 | 33 |
Source: Indeed
Jobs Covered by The Global Talent Stream
For Category B of the Global Talent Stream, employers must hire highly-skilled foreign workers to fill positions in occupations found on the following list:
| National Occupations Classification (NOC) code | Occupation | Minimum wage requirement (annual salary) | Minimum wage requirement (hourly rate) |
| 0211 | Engineering managers | Prevailing wage | Prevailing wage |
| 0212 | Architecture and science managers | Prevailing wage | Prevailing wage |
| 0213 | Computer and information systems managers | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2147 | Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| Sub-set of 2161* | Mathematicians and statisticians* Positions for actuaries or related occupations are excluded from this subset. | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2171 | Information systems analysts and consultants | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2172 | Database analysts and data administrators | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2173 | Software engineers and designers | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2174 | Computer programmers and interactive media developers | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2175 | Web designers and developers | prevailing wage | prevailing wage |
| 2283* | Information systems testing technicians | $78,000 or higher prevailing wage | $37.50 or higher prevailing wage |
| Sub-set of 5131* | Producer, technical, creative and artistic director and project manager – Visual effects and video gamePosition requires a minimum of five years of experience in the visual effects, video game or animation industries in one or a combination of the following roles: producer, technical director, creative director, artistic director or project manager, with experience in at least one or more of the following skills relevant to the visual effects, video game or animation industries: surfacing and look development; character or simulation rigging; matte painting; or technical pipeline development and application for visual effects, video games, or animation production. | $75,000 or higher prevailing wage | $36.06 or higher prevailing wage |
| Sub-set of 5241* | Digital Media and DesignPosition requires a minimum of five years of experience in at least one of the following digital media design skills: 3D modeling, virtual reality, augmented reality, digital media animation, levels editing for digital media design, software editing for digital media design, pipeline software development or applications relevant for digital media design. | $80,000 or higher prevailing wage | $38.46 or higher prevailing wage |
Individuals who succeed in obtaining temporary resident permits under the Global Talent Stream can make the transition to permanent residence in six months via the Express Entry system.
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As part of its commitment to attract and retain technology skilled workers Canada also has a path for Internation students to become Canadian permanent residents. See International Students – Path to Citizenship.
