IT PROFESSIONALS NEED NOT GET DISHEARTENED.

[shibuya]

Recently, it has been observed that both United States and Canada have closed doors for IT professionals for immigration. At this point of time, when all doors seem closed, there are actually many options still open for such professionals.

Option 1– Immigrate to Australia as a General Skilled Migrant or under State Nomination
Some among you may have excellent English language skills and others could just be touching IELTS band of 6.0. Those with IELTS of 7.0 under each of the factors could look at the Australian General Skilled Migrant program. Others with lower IELTS bands and otherwise qualified, could file under the Australian state nomination programs. Australia offers excellent employment and settlement opportunities. The country has an excellent policy of assessment and acceptance of international educational and professional credentials. This means faster and more satisfactory post landing settlement. Australia offers permanent resident status which is a major advantage that has immediate to long term benefits for prospective immigrants. Overall processing time frame is around 2-3 years and in case of state nomination, it can be around 12-15 months.

Option 2- Immigrate to Canada under the Quebec Skilled Worker Program
Others among you may have average English language skills and are also not qualified under Canada Federal Skilled Worker program since the occupation is not one of the 29 listed occupations. You should seriously consider Immigrating to Canada under the Quebec Skilled Migrant program. This is one of the most established and developed provinces/states of Canada and offers tremendous quality of life as well as employment opportunities. One key requirement for qualifying under the program is that an applicant should be willing to learn French as part of the immigration process. We have often seen IT and engineering professional undertaking high cost short term professional courses to improve their skill sets. Learning French is a skill that will last you a lifetime. Note that you are required to learn basic skills in French and you can do so while waiting for the immigration interview to be scheduled. In addition, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom permits the visa holder to live and work in any of the 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada. ABHINAV is the only company in India that has been successfully filing skilled migrant applications under the Quebec program since last many years. This is also an excellent immigration option for prospects with limited settlement funds. Applicants with the ability to show funds of around USD 4000 to USD 8000 can make application under the Quebec Skilled Worker program. The overall processing time frame is under 2 years and in most situations, it can be as less as 18 months.

Option 3- Immigrate to New Zealand under the General Skilled Migrant program
For young professionals with limited experience, New Zealand General Skilled Migrant program is an excellent choice. For the qualified, New Zealand provides an excellent launch pad for gaining valuable international experience. You can make the country your permanent home or at a later stage and when qualified shift to a bigger and better destination. If lifestyle at affordable cost of living is what attracts you, then Immigrating to New Zealand is a right choice.  Overall processing time frame is around one year. One key requirement for Information Technology professionals is that they must have relevant experience.

Option 4- Immigrate to Hong Kong under Quality Migrant Admission Scheme
Hong Kong is among the worlds' most developed cities and advanced infrastructure. The city-state is administered by and gets the benefit of support from China. The city offers excellent employment opportunities to executives and entrepreneurs in finance, marketing, business development, international trading, information technology and logistics. Practically, professionals from majority of key occupations can meet the qualifying selection criteria. If you are waiting for Canada or USA to open up again and are not qualified to make an application for Australia, Hong Kong Quality Migrant Admission Scheme is an excellent option. Also, weather conditions are excellent and you are just 5 hours of flying distance away from major Indian cities. Overall processing time frame is around one year.

Option 5- Immigrate to UK under Tier 1 option
With processing time frames of less than one month, this visa program is one of the fastest in the world. But the program has some typical qualifying requirements such as average balance and past earnings. In addition, high cost of living can be deterrent to some. But if you have a job lined up for you and meet the qualifying criteria, then making an application under the UK Tier 1 is an obvious choice. ABHINAV has excellent track record of managing applications to UK – first as HSMP and now in its new form of Tier 1 visa.

Option 6- Immigrate under Denmark Green Card
If you are a post graduate and are open to learning Danish language post issuance of visa, Denmark Green card is an ideal visa option for Information Technology professionals.  Applicants with average English language skills can successfully make an application for the Denmark Green Card. The process is simple and straightforward. It is ideal for applicants with aptitude for learning a foreign language.

Option 7- Make an Application for Singapore Landed Permanent Resident visa
Ideally only applicants holding superior designations or having niche exclusive experience and skills sets should make an application under Singapore Landed Permanent Resident visa.  No reasons are given for refusal and this is an expensive program on account of high non-refundable application fee. So take all care before deciding to make an application for this category of visa.

Summary

Times are changing and immigration policies are part of this change. Almost all countries have fixed yearly quota. Make an immediate application when you are qualified for a particular destination.


Best of Luck!

[tasmac]

nice post shibuya .....
other NOC are also applicable for Australia and uk ...
chefs and plumbers  as always ...

[bunty79]

Just a dumb question. How did USA close doors to IT professionals? H1B is still there(though strictly monitored) right?

[matlal]

Hi shibuya ,

THAT IS A NICE POST. GOOD INFO.

WELL IT IS SURELY NICE TO KEEP OPTIONS OPEN.

ALL THE BEST TO ALL,

-MATLAL

[ContractorTaxation]

Nice post to summarise the countries that still have options for skilled migration of IT professionals.

Just a note that with the recent changes in by the UK Border Agency, the Tier 1 route is very hard in the United Kingdom. It's more feasible to get an employer to sponsor a Tier 2 Work Permit and the changes to this format haven't reduced the appetite for employers to bring in specialist skills from overseas. Generally the Tier 2 Visa is popular with permanent work but there are some options for IT Contractors / freelance Workers as well.

Hope this helps

[anumatri]

This is Nice collection ...

[imran7799]

Excellent post..Thanks for sharing

[mydream]

Hi shibuya

Thanks for your efforts !
I am a Indian Chartered Accountant having total experience of 8+ years.For last 4.5 years I am working in
Information Technology as Oracle Apps Finance Functional Consultant. Recently I have completed Oracle Certification

I got my File no under the old system in June 2006 and there are no updates since then.
I am really not sure whether I would be able to get the Visa under the old system.
I tried to search for Australia immigration and the consultant informed me that my case
will not be eligible under Finance or IT Consultant as I do not have a formal degree in Information
technology and currently I am not working as Finance professional.Also according to him
I need to have total 6+ years of experience in IT so as to become eligible to apply for Australia


So now my question is which the best option for me ?
Please help.

Thanks and Regds
Mydream
 

[Cappuccino]

How exactly do you figure Canada has "closed its doors" on IT professionals?

Sure IT professions are not on the in-demand list of 29 occupations. But then again neither are thousands of other occupations. That does not mean you cannot emmigrate as an IT professional.

As a Federal Skilled Worker you can still emmigrate under Category 2 if you can secure a job offer (and pretty much all IT based jobs are going to be in Noc types 0, A or B), and this is easily possible with some commitment and willingness to travel to Canada for interviews. LMOs are not as impossible to get as some of the horror stories would lead us to believe.

Another alternative is Provincial Nomination. I think BC has Software Developers on its nomination list haven't really looked at the other Provinces or flavours of IT but it's certainly worth looking into.
Sure FSW1 is the best and easiest route in if you are eligible, but please do not confuse "no easy way in" with "no way in at all"

Wayne.

[jnathan]

very good post shibuya !

more and more IT people now, even more than the world needs. and that "more" is much more than we can think.

[schwarzeradler]

Whatever and however, the good thing about this profession is, as long as you are good in "it", have the know-how and on the job experience, you are 99% likely to survive (as per getting a job) anywhere, irrespective of the language barrier that the applicant/candidate may face.


Schwarzeradler

[PalNP]

2011-2016, states that there will be a labour shortage of qualified applicants for IT related jobs in Canada within the next few years. The report was released by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).

According to the report, over 106,000 IT related positions will become available between 2011 and 2016 in Canada; however there may not be enough people to fill those positions. The report has also indicated that the most shortages will occur for positions which require five or more years of experience.

In order to address the concerns regarding labour shortages, the report is suggesting five recommendations:
Post-secondary students should be encourages to take IT-related courses;
Foreign-education workers should be better integrated into Canada's IT workforce;
Making post-secondary education more cross-disciplinary; and
Making the IT industry more accessible for various skill levels and diverse employees.

Another important suggestion made by the report is to bring more foreign skilled workers to Canada. The IT industry will be looking for skilled workers with many different skills, rather than a specific technical expertise.

The Government of Canada has not indicated how these shortages will affect their immigration strategies. Canadavisa.com will report on any changes to the Canadian immigration programs once they have been announced.


http://www.canadavisa.com/news/entry/canadas-it-industry-to-face-labour-shortages-110404.html

   

[tasmac]

xcellent post shibuya +1 for you

[anumatri]

good job
excellent post

[ahmadtajwer]

Thanks Shibuya for this info., no matter what happens and as Canadian govt has taken IT off the NOC list, but demand of IT will remain in every country forever as now a days everything is computer based. Robots are about to taje over humans so here comes IT again