New Canada Open Work Permit For H1B Visa Holders Beginning July 16

Last Updated On 16 July 2023, 9:23 AM EDT (Toronto Time)

New Canada open work permit for H1B visa holders in the United States will be opening on July 16, 2023 allowing them to work for any employer in Canada.

This new open work permit program will stay open to applications for one year, or until the limit of 10,000 principal applicants is reached.

Furthermore, duration of this open work permit will be up to 3 years and will also allow the family members to accompany the primary applicants.

Family members (spouses and dependents) of these 10,000 H1-B visa holders will be eligible to apply for study permits or work permits or temporary resident visas.

New Canada Work Permit For H1B Visa Holders Is Now Open

Permanent Residency Pathways For H-1B Visa Holders

With this new open work permit program, H-1B visa holders will get an open work permit for up to 3 years.

There is no specific permanent residency (PR) pathway dedicated for these open work permit holders.

However, gaining 1 year of Canadian experience will definitely benefit them in increasing Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score in Express Entry.

These individuals who were previously only qualifying for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) of Express Entry, will be able to qualify under Canadian Experience Class (CEC) after gaining 1 year of experience in Canada.

H-1B visa holder who have 1 year of experience outside Canada, graduation level education, 8 in listening and 7 in rest of the modules of IELTS roughly score at 404 CRS score in FSWP.

Gaining 1 year of Canadian experience in TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation will boost up their score to 470.

Similarly, 2 years of Canadian experience will further raise their CRS score to 507 increasing their chances of receiving PR invite in an Express Entry draw.

Additionally, they will also benefit from STEM targeted Express Entry draw which declared CRS cutoff score of 486 on July 5, 2023.

Also these occupations are also targeted by provincial nominee programs (PNPs) which will further increase their chances of getting Canadian permanent residency.

10,000 Canada Open Work Permit For H1B Visa Holders Not Enough

There are roughly 600,000 H1B visa holders in the United States working for 50,000 employers.

In Tech occupations, layoffs in 2022-2023 is expected to exceed 100,000 in the United States.

It is anticipated that 10,000 is way too less number for the new open work permit program for U.S. H-1B visa holders.

So, this number is expected to be filled out within matter of a day or so after the program goes live on July 16.

Another New Innovation Stream Coming By End of 2023

IRCC is also working on another new innovation stream which will be finalized and launched by end of 2023.

This new stream will be under the International Mobility Program (IMP) that will bring talented workers to Canada to help build innovative businesses.

What are the 24 STEM occupations being targeted by Express Entry draws in 2023?

Architects – 21200
Architecture and science managers – 20011
Business systems specialists – 21221
Civil Engineers – 21300
Computer and information systems managers – 20012
Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) – 21311
Computer systems developers and programmers – 21230
Cybersecurity specialists – 21220
Data scientists – 21211
Database analysts and data administrators – 21223
Electrical and electronics engineers – 21310
Engineering managers – 20010
Industrial and manufacturing engineers – 21321
Information systems specialists – 21222
Land surveyors – 21203
Landscape Architects – 21201
Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries – 21210
Metallurgical and materials engineers – 21322
Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers – 41400
Software developers and programmers – 21232
Software engineers and designers – 21231
Urban and land use planners – 21202
Web designers – 21233
Web developers and programmers – 21234