Canadian tech firms plead for visa adjustments

The U.S president Donald Trump’s ban on seven countries have sparked countless reactions from people all over the world. The Canadian tech firms are also highly concerned about the number of talented people that will be restricted from entering the country.

In response to the ban, the tech firms in Canada are pleading with the government to make visa adjustments which will create suitable circumstances for more talent people to enter the country.

Despite the fact that tech firms in other nations are angered by the newly approved ban, Canadian tech firms are creating avenues to benefit for the situation to draw in more talents to their shores which will lead to the growth of the country.

Alexandra Clark, director of policy and government affairs at Ottawa-based-e-commerce platform Shopify expressed that this is the right opportunity for Canada to get hold of talented people from various countries.

She went on to add that the government should come with attractive ways to get the attention of foreign talented workers and they should not be barred from entering the country if it’s their choice.

For Allen Lau, CEO of Toronto-based online storytelling app Wattpad, the decision of Donald Trump has just opened doors for Canada. in earlier months, Ottawa had cut down on the immigration process for international tech workers to encourage more workers to come in.

According to Lau, he has already begun to receive calls from workers in America that are looking for other countries that they might relocate to.

In the wake of the ban, Canada tech firms urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make visa changes that will make it easier for foreign talented workers to again access to the country stating that multiplicity is a driving force for growth in the tech industry.

In a letter from various tech chief executive officers emphasized that to bring together the most international talented people to hire, train and teach them, Canada can develop an international companies to boost the economy.

The letter was signed by tech firms such as Shopify’s Tobi Lutke, an immigrant from Germany, and Hootsuite Media’s Ryan Holmes.

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen also voiced out that the ban on seven countries will hinder international businesses as most of his team members and workers are immigrants but the ban is also a positive step towards enhancing Canada’s tech industry.

Leading tech companies in the U.S such as Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Amazon, who all have smaller companies in Canada expressed that international talent has been of great importance to their companies.

Although the effects of the ban on the U.S made by Donald Trump’s is yet to be known, many believe that it will most likely affect the tech industry as majority of the tech firms established in the U.S were funded by people from other countries.

The late Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, comes from a Syrian, one of the countries included in Trumps ban. The chief executive officers of Microsoft and Google are both from India.