Communitech, an organization that supports the entire “Community of Tech” in Waterloo, placed 9 billboards across Silicon Valley to invite US based tech employees to relocate to Canada for IT work.
Communitech spent $100k on the billboards and promises tech talent that comes to Canada from US that they will provide them with health insurance, and will provide an answer within 10 days whether visa is approved.
Communitech’s CEO, Iain Klugman, says that majority of tech workers in US are under H1B visa and that recent announcement that H1B visa will be cancelled put a lot of tech workers on alert and not sure about their future in the US.
Klugman says that presented a great opportunity for Waterloo region to advertise itself to some amazing tech workers in Silicon Valley who prefer work security.
It’s that uncertainty, and doubt, and fear that is creating an opportunity for us to come along and say, ‘You know, if America doesn’t want you– we do!’
At the end of the day, the country that can attract the smartest people, and retain the smartest people in their country is going to win.” said Klugman.
“We’ve had challenges getting people to move here for a lot of reasons but now we can say, ‘You know what? You don’t have to move. You can join a remarkable company right here in Waterloo, Ontario.’
Iain Klugman, in an interview to Kitchener Today
Communitech CEOKlugman also says he expects a lot of new foreign talent to come to Waterloo and Canada promptly but he says it is not very easy to attract tech talent to come to Canada even with recent H1B closures.
It will be interesting to see how Canada can compete with salaries that are more than double in the US as well as hundreds of very well funded tech companies in Silicon Valley to choose from.
