U.S. technology giant Microsoft Corp. will be setting up shop in Vancouver, British Columbia to benefit of Canada’s more open immigration system for foreign skilled workers. The Microsoft Canada Development Centre will allow “the company to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S.”
The United States has an annual quota on the number of work visas granted to internationally-trained workers, which is far surpassed by the number of applications. Microsoft has been pushing for the American government to remove the cap so that they can better staff their organization with talent from around the world. Given the persisting restrictions on bringing overseas talent to the U.S., Microsoft has decided to recruit the foreign high-tech workers it needs to its new centre in Canada instead. There is no annual limit on the number of Canadian work permits to be granted and Canadian companies in labour-tight industries are eagerly recruiting foreign talent. Attracting information technology workers has been deemed a priority in Canada, and special immigration provisions for IT workers have been implemented to facilitate their entry into the Canadian work force.
At present, North American educational institutions are not turning out enough students with computer science degrees to meet the demand from businesses in the U.S. and Canada. Two-thirds of computer science graduates are trained in India, China, and the Asia-Pacific region. Microsoft needs to recruit and retain these foreign high-tech workers and the Canadian immigration system provides more flexibility to do this than the American system.
The Vancouver centre will serve as a base for software development for a full range of Microsoft products. The centre will open with a staff of 200 workers and will likely expand to employ 1,000, both Canadian-born and internationally recruited. Along with its proximity to corporate offices in Redmond, Washington, the Vancouver location was chosen for its diverse population, solid infrastructure, and high quality of life.
Attorney David Cohen was consulted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to explain why the Canadian immigration system is so appealing Microsoft. Read what David Cohen had to say.
