US companies work hard to attract and retain top technical talent. The increasingly fierce competition for talented US computer and software engineers, along with the rising cost of living in US tech centers like Silicon Valley and Seattle, have driven up labor costs.
More and more often, these companies are adding employees outside the US to their teams.
Tech Workers from Across the Globe
According to Devskiller, US firms rank number 1 globally for hiring technical workers from other countries. US firms account for 31.2% of all international hires tested on the Devskiller website.
Another way to look at this trend; almost half of the technical workers hired by US firms in 2018 came from outside the US
US companies are drawing the interest of technical talent from across the globe. The top 5 countries US firms hire from internationally are India, Argentina, Poland, Sweden, and Egypt.
However, a sometimes overlooked candidate pool for these companies is our neighbor to the north, Canada. Relatedly, a solution to the common issue of finding H-1B visas for foreign-born workers can also be found in Canada.
Hiring Canadian engineers and coders who live in Canada, whether they were born there or not, is a great option for US tech companies.
Canada Welcomes Tech Workers
Companies that are unable to secure H-1B visas for foreign-born workers are turning to Canada’s Global Skills Strategy (GSS) program.
These companies are re-locating their highly skilled workers to Canada, where they can work towards citizenship. To pull it off, they simply partner with a Professional Employment Organization (PEO) like Syndesus.
The PEO partner makes it easy for employers to navigate the legal processes, and to manage things like payroll, and Canadian taxes.
GSS allows engineers and other highly skilled workers to attain legal worker status in Canada quickly. By using GSS in conjunction with a PEO to manage payroll, HR, and navigate Canadian labor law generally, many tech companies are seeing huge savings compared with vying for US visas.
Beyond the obvious advantage of immigration status security for your workers, many companies have found that due to a lower cost of living in Canada, the move is cost-neutral.
Even if a foreign-born employee originally intended to stay in the US, recent developments in US immigration and labor policy have cut down on the number of work visas available.
Retain Quality Talent in Canada
If you don’t want to let go of your foreign-born workers, re-locating them in Canada is an available and viable option.
Moving highly skilled workers to Canada to work around US immigration laws and extreme housing prices in US tech hubs is becoming more common. Companies small are large are choosing to secure long-term residence for their foreign-born workers in Canada.
If you are concerned about the long-term immigration status of your highly skilled engineers and tech workers, consider relocating them to Canada using GSS and a trusted PEO partner, like Syndesus.
Schedule a free consultation to find out if Syndesus can help.
