Canada plans a brain drain for H-1B visa holders, a job-free, stress-free work permit.

Canada has launched a bid to attract techies to work in the US on the popular H-1B visa. It gives them a chance to go north. From one report: The offer, announced Wednesday as part of the country’s first-ever tech talent strategy, will allow H-1B visa holders to move to Canada without waiting for a job. The H-1B visa is controversial in the US. The aim is to attract skilled workers whose skills are in short supply in the state, thus adding flexibility to the economy, but the visa is widely believed to be under attack – by employers who use it to find workers willing to work below their American peers. .

But the visa is very popular in India – one of the main sources of H-1B applicants. In fact, it’s so popular that the Biden administration announced minor updates to the program during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to India last week. The H-1B made headlines in early 2023 for mass layoffs in the tech sector, as jobless visa holders have just 90 days to leave the land of the free. Canada clearly sees an opportunity to get some of the talent it needs to bolt-hole — and its neighbor to the south is securing that talent because it vets H-1B holders and already has work experience in North America.