America Is Falling Behind in the Global Talent Competition

In June, the Canadian immigration minister announced a new initiative to attract high-tech talent to Canada — from the United States.

The Tech Talent Strategy targets foreign-born workers who have come to the United States to study or work but who may have difficulty receiving or renewing U.S. work visas to stay. In addition to expanding Canada’s startup visa, the initiative will create an open work permit p for H-1B visa holders in the United States.

“There’s no question … that we are in a global race for the same pool of talent with competitors around the entire world,” said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, announcing the initiative in June. “In my view, Canada’s winning that race… but I think we can win it by an even larger margin.”

This is hardly a one-off for Canada. Nor is Canada alone in its efforts to recruit immigrants. For years, many nations across the world have been introducing policies to attract immigrants, who are crucial to these countries’ efforts to support their aging populations and compete in the global economy.

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