The city locally known as “The Six” came in number three on CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent Report, which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian tech markets on 13 unique metrics including talent supply, completed tech degrees, and job growth— among others.
All new Canadian laws in the new year 2019
Obtain a work contract for immigration to Canada
British Columbia issued new Tech Pilot invitations for a provincial nomination
Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program
The San Francisco Bay Area took the top spot and Seattle came in second.
Toronto placed third ahead of Washington, D.C., New York City and Austin, Tex., in the overall rankings. It was also named the top city overall in terms of “brain gain,” adding 80,100 tech jobs since 2013.
“Toronto’s pool of tech talent grew at the fastest pace of all 50 markets measured, adding an eye-popping 80,100 tech jobs in the past five years, a 54 per cent increase,” the report says.
“Toronto nearly equalled the number of tech jobs created in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2013.”
In a statement, CBRE Canada Vice Chairman Paul Morassutti said the tech sector’s impact on Toronto “cannot be overstated.”
“Toronto, San Francisco and Seattle are comfortably mentioned in the same sentence and are attracting the best in the industry,” he said.
Other Canadian cities also performed well — Vancouver went up 13 spots to 12th place, which CBRE said was the greatest year-over-year improvement of any North American city.
Montreal came in at 13 and Canada’s national capital, Ottawa, took the 19th spot overall.
A new tech talent ranking has Toronto among the top three cities in both the United States and Canada for tech workers.
Immigration programs address growing tech needs
This rapid growth has produced multiple calls for improved access to international IT talent to address growing labour shortages in the sector, leading Canada’s federal government and several provinces to step up their immigration programs in response.
Express Entry
The federal government’s Express Entry system is Canada’s leading source of skilled foreign workers and IT professionals top the list of those invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence.
Nominee Program Streams For The Canadian New Brunswick Provincial
opening of immigration for the city of Morden
Canada Business & Investor Immigration
How To Apply To Canada Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
The top three most common occupations among Express Entry candidates invited in :
Software engineers and designers
Information systems analysts and consultants
Computer programmers and interactive media developers
Occupation, however, is not considered when it comes to selecting Express Entry candidates, who are ranked based on scores awarded for age, education, skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French, among other factors.
The Government of Canada invites a set number of the highest-ranked candidates to apply for Canadian permanent residence through regular draws from the Express Entry pool.
For tech workers with CRS scores below those being drawn through Express Entry, obtaining a provincial nomination may be their ticket to permanent residence.
Express Entry candidates with a provincial nomination are awarded an additional 600 CRS points and move to the front of the line for a federal invitation to apply.
Several provincial nominee programs have tech-focused options, with the most recent addition being Ontario’s new Tech Draws.
Tech Draws allow the Ontario Immigration Nominee Program to search the federal Express Entry pool for candidates with work experience in six tech occupations.
The first draw was held July 12, 2019, and yielded 1,623 invitations to Express Entry candidates with CRS scores ranging from 439 to 459. A job offer in Ontario was not required.
The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) includes several positions for tech workers under the “Natural and applied scientists and related occupations” header of its In-Demand Occupation List.
British Columbia issued new Tech Pilot invitations for a provincial nomination
Ontario Selects Express Entry candidates
How do I come to Canada as a temporary foreign worker
Apply work to canada through LMIA
Provincial nominee options
The MPNP notes that candidates working in an in-demand occupation will be prioritized for an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination through its regular draws for skilled immigration candidates.
The MPNP also recently reduced its language requirements for computer network technicians from a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 to 5, making an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination that much easier to obtain.
Next door in Saskatchewan, computer programmers and interactive media developers were recently added to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP)’s list of in-demand occupations.
Work experience in an occupation on the list is required in order to receive an invitation to apply for a provincial nomination through the SINP’s Express Entry and Occupation In-Demand sub-categories. However, a job offer from an employer in Saskatchewan is not required.
On Canada’s Pacific Coast, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program’s Tech Pilot conducts weekly invitation rounds for tech workers with an eligible job offer from a B.C. employer in one of 29 tech-related occupations.
The Tech Pilot’s two-year trial period has been extended twice and the program is now set to run until June 2020.