Ottawa: Canada has emerged as a coveted destination for India’s diaspora. Indians are appearing to grab Canada’s Express Entry programme which invites top-ranked candidates - under the country’s point based immigration system - to take up permanent residency. Express Entry is Canada’s flagship programme for key economic migration. Under it, of the 86,022 invitations sent in 2017, nearly 42% (or 36,310) were to those holding an Indian citizenship. The total number of invitations sent in 2017 was more than double of the previous year - 33,782. In 2016, the number of invites sent to those having Indian citizenship was merely 11,037, showing an increase by more than 200%.
According to the Express Entry Year-end Report, 2017, a little over 1,00,000 applications were received for permanent residency under the Express Entry programme in 2017, 86,022 invitations were sent and 65,401permanent residents and their families were admitted into Canada. Nearly 40% of this total or 26,000-plus Indians became permanent residents in Canada.
Canada has a point-based immigration system
Among those applicants who had job offers and were admitted as permanent residents, occupations like information system analysts, software engineers and designers, computer programmers and university lecturers topped the charts. These statistics, showing an increase in number of Indians opting for Canadian permanent residency, strengthen the belief that many H-1B visa holders, tired of the backlog and infinite wait for a green card in the US - a green card grants permanent residency on American soil - are now heading towards Canada. Currently, more than 3,00,000 Indians in the US are waiting for a green card, CATO Institute, a Washington-based think tank, states that given the green card backlog, the waiting period for Indians with an advanced degree (those in the EB-2 category) could be as much as 151years.
Vikram Rangnekar, now an entrepreneur in Toronto, is among those who made the move. “I lived in the US for six years on H-1B visa. I had a great life in California, lots of friends, an awesome job, and enjoyed the outdoors. Then, I realised that I didn’t want to continue living my life on a restrictive visa. I wanted more freedom, I wanted to work on my own ideas and that was just not possible under the H-1B visa. Also with the ever extending green card wait, permanent residency in the US was out of question.”
He and his family moved to Toronto in 2016. “We love the accepting Canadian culture, the diversity, high quality of life, great support and education system for kids,” he said. Today, Rangnekar hosts a platform which helps a significant number of Indians currently on H-1B to find jobs in Canada. Canada has a point-based immigration system. Under the Express Entry programme, candidates complete an online profile and are given a comprehensive ranking system (CRS) score.
