Indians beat Chinese in race for Canada work visas

Statistics for the first six months ending June 30, 2017, show that 13,670 Indians obtained work visas as opposed to just 8,680 Chinese..

MUMBAI: Canada attracts more Indians than Chinese, be it for work or acquiring citizenship. Contrast this with its neighbour US, where the Chinese comparatively lead the migration trends on parameters such as acquiring green cards. However, the inflow of students to Canada from China is much higher.

Statistics for the first six months ending June 30, 2017, show that 13,670 Indians obtained work visas under Canada's international mobility programme as opposed to just 8,680 Chinese. Typically, firms can sponsor skilled workers under this programme and a labour market impact assessment is not required.

The trend was similar under the temporary foreign worker programme (a restrictive visa which requires labour market impact assessment and requires that first preference be given to local Canadians). Under it, 2,190 Indians obtained work visas as compared to 635 from China.These statistics, for the first half of the current calendar year, released by the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), do not deviate from trends in the preceding years.

Attractiveness of the international mobility programme peaked for Indians in 2016, with 30,850 Indians having obtained such work visas, a rise of nearly 50% over the previous year.

The number of Chinese students is slightly higher, standing at 25,315 during the first half of 2017 as opposed to 20,845 from India.

While half-yearly figures of new permanent residents have not been released, Philippines and India continue to occupy the top two slots in 2016. Nearly 13% of the 2.96 lakh new permanent residents in 2016 were from India.Syria ranked third in 2016, with an influx of refugees.

From June, Canada has ushered in the Global Talent Stream Program (GTSP). It offers fast track processing of applications in two weeks and exemptions from labour market impact assessments. Companies seeking to sponsor highly qualified foreign work ers can opt for GTSP which covers ten occupations primarily in computer, electrical and IT. But GTSP applies only for short trips. Managerial or professional workers can visit Canada on short term assignments of 15 days in a six month period or 30 days in a year.

As reported by TOI earlier, the time period is too short for IT assignments at client sites. However, according to an immigration expert, this is likely to prop up the statistics for the second half of 2017.

Chinese dominate the migration landscape in US when it comes to permanent residence or green cards. According to International Migration Outlook ­ 2017, released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the inflow from China during 2015 was 74.6 thousand as opposed to 64. 1 thousand from India.

(This article was originally published in The Times of India)

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