The H-1B program has weathered significant turbulence, and uncertainty looms once again with the upcoming Trump administration. During Trump’s previous term, the H-1B program faced substantial restrictions through executive orders, proposed regulations, and outright bans on certain work visas. Policies such as the 2020 executive order halting the issuance of H-1B visas were driven by claims of prioritizing American jobs, leaving thousands of workers and employers in limbo. As businesses strive to retain H-1B workers, tech giants like Google, Apple, and Facebook, along with smaller companies, have voiced their concerns, emphasizing the essential role of foreign talent in maintaining U.S. innovation.
The Biden administration rolled back some of these restrictions, offering temporary relief for H-1B workers and their employers. Initiatives such as delaying Trump’s wage-based lottery system and preserving work authorizations for H-1B dependents highlighted Biden’s intent to stabilize the program. However, despite these efforts, the U.S. immigration system remains unpredictable, and H-1B employers are bracing for renewed challenges under Trump’s leadership. Employers must ensure compliance with immigration regulations by retaining documentation submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including forms, approval and receipt notices, and pay stubs for each foreign worker. This documentation is essential to establish the legal status of foreign workers during interactions with USCIS.
Evidence of Immigration Status Anxieties During Trump’s Administration
Trump’s presidency created an atmosphere of heightened immigration anxiety, especially for employers relying on the H-1B program. Key moments include:
- The Executive Order Banning Work Visas: In June 2020, Trump issued an order pausing the issuance of H-1B, L-1, and H-2B visas, citing the pandemic’s economic impact. This left countless companies scrambling to address critical talent shortages.
- Increased H-1B Denial Rates: Denial rates for H-1B petitions surged to 24% in FY 2018, up from 6% in FY 2015, creating uncertainty for both employers and employees regarding their employment authorization.
- Proposed Wage-Based Selection: A rule aiming to replace the random H-1B lottery with wage-based prioritization created concerns that small and medium-sized businesses would be sidelined in favor of larger corporations able to pay higher salaries.
These policies disrupted operations, delayed projects, and forced businesses to seek alternatives to retain top talent. Maintaining an employment authorization document is crucial for H-1B workers to ensure legal compliance, especially when transitioning between statuses or dealing with pending applications. As history suggests, similar measures may resurface, amplifying anxieties for U.S. employers navigating the immigration process.
What Can Employers Do to Retain H-1B Talent? Consider Prevailing Wage and Move to Canada.
If you’re worried about losing your skilled H-1B employees to restrictive U.S. immigration policies, Canada offers a practical and stable solution. By relocating your H-1B employees to Canada through an employer filed process, you can retain their talent while offering them a clear and secure immigration pathway. This is particularly beneficial for employees remaining with the same employer during the transition. Partnering with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) makes this transition seamless.
It is also important to maintain a filed labor condition application as part of the public access file, in compliance with 20 CFR § 655.760.
How Does Hiring Through an EOR Work?
A Canada-based employer of record allows for your H-1B workers to continue working for you in Canada. While your U.S. company manages day-to-day work responsibilities, the EOR handles payroll, compliance, and HR operations, ensuring your foreign workers are legally employed in Canada and that the original petition accurately reflects the intended employment. This setup allows your workers to continue their roles remotely, while benefiting from Canada’s worker-friendly immigration system. Additionally, it is crucial to maintain payroll records for compliance with Canadian employment laws.
Why Canada? 6 Benefits for Employers and Employees
Leverage Canada’s Booming Tech Industry
The tech industry across Canada is booming! Over the past five years, Toronto saw the biggest growth in technology jobs of any North American city. International tech giants like Google and home-grown startups like Shopify are expanding in Canada and adding jobs in droves. A diverse, highly skilled workforce depends heavily on good local universities, and Canada has the third-largest international student population in the world and many impressive universities with top-rated engineering programs.
But Canada’s Global Talent Stream (GTS) — a program designed to fast-track the entry of foreign workers with specialized skills — also deserves some credit for the country’s booming tech industry. Canada is working hard to make it easier for students, tech workers, and tech companies to call Canada home by simplifying processes related to job duties, location, or job title.
Ease of Returning to the U.S.
Canada is right next door to the US, so if it’s important to you that your employees occasionally meet in person at your US headquarters, then you can’t really find a more convenient location than Canada.
The United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) — an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — simplifies the movement of workers from Canada and Mexico into the US with a NAFTA visa known as a TN visa. So if your Canadian employee has a TN visa, they can easily return to the States when conditions allow or demand.
TN visa holders are able to hop across the border for business trips, or if the day comes when you want them back in the US office full-time, they’ll be able to legally re-enter the US and work here easily!
Cost Savings on Salaries and Benefits
Living in the US is not cheap, especially in tech hubs like Silicon Valley that have become increasingly unaffordable. Encouraging your employees to live somewhere more affordable benefits both them and you — they get to save money on cost of living, and you have the option to save money on salaries and benefits.
Better yet, permanent residents in Canada will enjoy the benefits of a government-run single-payer system. The Canadian Institute for Health Information found that on average a Canadian spends $6,604 in taxes for healthcare coverage compared to more than an average of $10,000 per person that Americans spend on healthcare.
In Canada, many employers offer supplemental private health insurance to their employees but this is still significantly cheaper than what US employers spend on healthcare. The average total cost of employer-provided health coverage in the US passed $20,000 for a family plan. You read that right – twenty-thousand US dollars.
Immigration Stability for Workers
Despite immigration taking a pandemic-related hit, the efficiency and flexibility of Canada’s immigration program has allowed it to respond to urgent global talent needs during its fight against Covid-19.
The goal of the GTS program is to expedite and ease the processing time for visa and work permit applications for foreign nationals who possess unique talents or are highly skilled. The typical timelines are 10 business days to assess applications and 14 business days to process work permits for qualified workers.
Looking to stay in Canada long-term? If you qualify for Express Entry or the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), you could apply for permanent residence within months rather than years.
A Better Quality of Life for Employees
Happy employees are productive employees — it’s science! Workers who self-reported as being very happy are 13% more productive than “very unhappy” employees, and it turns out that Canadians are some of the happiest people in the world.
The annual World Happiness Report ranked 156 countries using the Gallup World Poll and six factors: levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and income. In 2020, the US ranked the 18th happiest country in the world. Canada was number 11 on the list, so I guess that means they’re some of the world’s happiest workers!
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to skip the H-1B drama and move your H-1B workers up to Canada instead.
Flexibility to Scale Operations Globally
By leveraging Canada as a talent hub, you diversify your workforce geographically, ensuring business continuity regardless of U.S. immigration policies.
Syndesus: Your Partner in Hiring Foreign Workers in Canada
As the H-1B landscape shifts, it’s essential to stay ahead. Syndesus specializes in helping U.S. companies navigate these challenges by relocating their H-1B employees to Canada. We handle the complexities of Canadian employment laws, payroll, compliance, job duties, and job title changes, so you can focus on what matters most—your business. Adhering to job responsibilities is crucial to ensure compliance with immigration regulations.
Avoid the headaches of U.S. immigration policies. Book a consultation with Syndesus today to explore how relocating your H-1B workers to Canada can ensure stability for your team and success for your business.
The content and materials available via Syndesus are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice.
