Liberal Visa Norms With Potential Citizenship in Three Years Lure Indian Techies To Opt For Canada Over US 

With Trump administration tightening the H-1B visa regulations, Indian software professionals are lining up a move to Canada, reports Economic Times.

A large part of technology professionals working on H-1B visas are Indians. US offers 85,000 such visas every year. Increased scrutiny of visa holders and tougher guidelines to avail new visa is prompting the aspirants to look other way.

Canada, on the other hand, has come with a programme called Global Skills Strategy in 2017 and has a target to welcome 3,30,000 new permanent residents for the year 2019. As of November 2018, 40,833 jobs and 3,625 applications have been approved by the Canadian government.

Of late, it is been found that, software professionals have developed more liking towards Canada, thanks to a liberal visa regime. Those moving away after working in US for sometime are given priority.

Even those who have an H-1B visa extension till 2021 and are done with their STEM degree in the US are opting to move to Canada. Nearly a third of the H-1B visa holders moving towards Canada are found to be Indians.

Canada is luring high skilled professional with a potential citizenship in three years as against to a decade long, uncertain wait for a green card in the US. Albeit the remuneration packages offered in Canada are lower than those in US, easier visa norms appear to be tilting the balance in its favour.