Is Canada really the next stop for Indian techies looking for greener pastures? It is a good option for sure, but it is probably not a go-to place for thousands of techies yet.
For, though the interest in the country is increasing at present, lack of skilled jobs in tech and vibrant tech ecosystem such as in the US are missing in the country and it would years to build that ecosystem, say experts.
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Why are we talking about this now?
After the US proclamation that banned non-immigrant visas such as H-1B at the back of COVID-19, Canadian immigration reported a huge spike. For instance, the country saw 11,000 immigrants in May compared to 4,000 in April with significant number of them from countries such as India, China, the Philippines, the US, and Nigeria.
In addition, close to 85,500 Indians were granted permanent residency in Canada in 2019. Evidently, more number of Indians are moving to the country and this is likely to increase over the next few years.
Why were Indians moving to Canada?
Over the last few years, few startups started setting up base in Canada since the Trump administration tightened the H-1B visa rules since 2017 resulting in rising denial rates.
Vijay K*, a techie working for a US-based startup, moved to Canada with his family and is now a permanent resident. He drives down to the US whenever he has a meeting. “It is pretty convenient,” he added.
Pankaj Joshi, managing director, Nysa Global, said that they have witnessed bigger firms such as Amazon setting up base in Vancouver, which is only a three hour drive to its headquarters in Seattle.
A report by the Economist on the growing Canadian economy pointed out that Toronto created more IT jobs in the technology sector than Silicon Valley, Seattle, New York and Washington DC combined.
The report further noted that Canada is home to startups such as Shopify that are valued at $14 billion. The country is also an artificial intelligence hot-bed with Facebook and Samsung opening AI research labs there.
Still, it is only a third-tier investment destination.
Few immigration experts pointed out that if one considers sheer volume of techies and compensation, Canada lags behind the US immensely.
Why Canada is not there as yet?
Despite the proximity to the US, there are not just enough jobs or talent in the country. Barring few startups and research centres of bigger companies, the country does not offer the job opportunities for techies like the US does.
With the exception of cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, other cities are not promising. On the other hand, after the Silicon Valley, Austin, Chicago, and Colorado are emerging as startups hubs.
Salary is half of what you earn in the US as well. According to reports, if an employee gets an average salary of $134,000 in San Francisco, US, in Toronto, the average salary is close to $75,000.
Many techies who are turning to Canada are taking a pay cut in the hope for permanent residency. Some Indian students studying in Canadian universities are even driving cabs to make ends meet.
“Sure, standard living in Canada is better than India. But if you are highly skilled and motivated, probably Canada is not right for you. It just does not have that ecosystem yet,” added another immigration consultant.
