IT workers are needed in Canada due to the growth of the industry in the country.
Overseas workers with IT skills and experience are increasingly needed not only due to the large workforce required but also due to skills shortages in Canada.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) recently reported on a projected 106,000 IT positions in the next 4 years, highlighting a need for international workers.
In 2011, a report produced by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) outlined an ‘alarming’ skills shortage of information and communications technology workers in Canada and an expanding gap between IT labour supply and demand.
IT workers in Canada are generally well paid, with an average wage over 50% higher than the national average according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
If you are an IT professional and planning to move to Canada, you may well end up living in the Canadian county of Ontario which is often called the ‘Silicon Valley’ of the North. Waterloo city officials are encouraging ties with Toronto technology companies to strengthen the cluster with the Californian set up of Silicon Valley being used as a model. Both cities have a technology culture, enhanced by the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo which is seen as an innovation University. The University of Waterloo has won the McClean’s Magazine award for most innovative Canadian university for the last 22 years and it has a large Computer Science and Engineering faculty. This makes the area attractive to large multinational companies looking for talent.
Waterloo forms part of Canada’s Technology Triangle (CTT), an economic region which includes Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph and Kitchener. It is promoted as an advanced technology cluster and is home to many technology companies in Canada. In the triangle, there are 30,000 people employed at Information Technology companies (www.techtriangle.ca).
The Canadian Government are keen to promote Canada as a place for technology advancement and investment. In 2013, millions of dollars were invested in IT companies in Canada to support this initiative. An organisation called Communitech has been set up which is a non-profit agency aimed with assisting and supporting technology companies.
There are varying visa options for IT professionals looking to relocate to Canada including temporary working visas, entrepreneur’s visas, the Federal Skilled Worker program and the Quebec Skilled Worker program. For further information visit the CIC website: www.cic.gc.ca.
