<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER  No. 1963 -- 1/23/2009 >>>>>

Alberta, Canada is sending this message to H-1Bs in the U.S.: "Give us your
underpaid, your overworked, your huddled masses of indentured nonimmigrants
yearning to be free".

Yep, that's right, Alberta, Canada is courting H-1B visa holders in the
U.S. They are offering a big incentive too -- permanent residency and they
don't even have to have a job offer. Well, some Canadian websites say they
do have to have a job, some say they have to have a job offer, and others
say neither is necessary. Eh?

Alberta welcomes just about any type of guest worker visa holder you can
imagine, not just H-1Bs. They will take skilled workers like computer
programmers, international students, and semi-skilled workers like fast
food preparers, hotel workers, and bus drivers.

H-1Bs who get Canadian permanent residency status will be free to go
anywhere in Canada they want, and of course they will be entitled to
receive all the socialist amenities that country offers like free health
care. If jobs dry up in Canada or they get homesick for the USA, they could
always come back with a TN (trade NAFTA) visa since all that's required for
a TN is permanent residency. Alberta's offer is a good situation for an
Indian national, for example, who would get access three job markets in
three different countries.

Of course there are those who are using Alberta's generosity (and
stupidity) as an excuse to indulge in scaremongering. Take this one from
Informationweek:

   Here's what Congress should do to right this ridiculous situation.
   H-1B workers who have been employed productively in the U.S. for
   six consecutive years, and who have broken no laws, should be
   eligible to become permanent residents. Period.

Everyone that gets this newsletter should pass this info to H-1Bs
throughout the U.S. Perhaps they will all go to Canada and we can have our
jobs back, eh?


REFERENCES:

http://www.albertacanada.com/immigration/campaigns/h1b.html
Temporary skilled worker visa holders: Alberta, Canada welcomes you and
your family

http://www.canadavisa.com/in-the-us-on-an-h1b-Alberta-pnp-has-a-new-option-f
or-you.html
In the U.S. on an H1B? Alberta PNP has a new option for you - no job offer
required  

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/07/valuable_h1b_wo.ht
ml
Valuable H-1B Workers Alberta-Bound As Congress Fiddles

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http://www.albertacanada.com/immigration/campaigns/h1b.html

Temporary skilled worker visa holders: Alberta, Canada welcomes you and
your family
Even if you haven’t yet secured a permanent or full-time position in your
field. With your fast-track Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program you could be
granted permanent residency and you’ll never have to worry about your
visa expiring again. And, you can move here right away. Alberta has the
strongest and fastest growing economy in Canada, giving you the security
and stability you’ve been searching for. The air is clean, the sky is
blue and the people are as friendly as you’ve heard.

Are you currently working in the United States in a temporary skilled
worker visa category?

You may be eligible to qualify for Canadian Permanent Residency through the
Strategic Recruitment Stream pilot program recently introduced by the
Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP).

To qualify for this pilot program, you must meet the following basic
criteria:

You must be currently working in the United States in one of the following
temporary skilled worker visa categories: H-1B, H1-B1, H-1C, E-3
 
You must have a minimum of one year of work experience in the United States
in one of the qualifying visa categories listed above.
 
Your occupation must be on the Regional Occupations Under Pressure list for
Alberta. Please visit the link to view the list.
If you think you qualify for this pilot program, please complete
application (AINP009), as well as the Citizenship and Immigration Canada
(CIC) forms listed below and send them to us. You can send it by mail to
Strategic Recruitment Stream - U.S. Visa Holder Category, Alberta
Employment and Immigration, 4th Floor, Commerce Place, 10155 - 102 Street,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 4L6

Application Form (AINP009)
Use of a Representative Form (AINP008B)
CIC forms, please submit photocopies

Application for Permanent Residence in Canada (IMM008)
Schedule 1: Background/Declaration (IMM008)
Additional Family Information (IMM5406)
Use of a Representative (if applicable) (IMM5476)
Schedule 4: Economic Classes: Provincial Nominees (IMM008)
NOTE: You will only receive a confirmation email, following the
pre-assessment of your application and after it has been entered into our
system for processing.
In addition, please do not call or email us to check on the status of your
application, as this will increase our processing times. Furthermore, we do
not provide status updates during normal processing times.

If you have any questions, please contact the Alberta Foreign Worker
Hotline; toll free in Alberta at 1-877-427-6419 and outside of Alberta at
1-780-427-6419 or email us at immigration.info@gov.ab.ca

About Alberta, Canada
Discover Alberta, the land and its people.

We Want You to Make Alberta Your Home
Find out if Alberta is right for you. Learn about housing, education and
Alberta’s lifestyle.

Your Career in Alberta, Canada
Experience life in the province of Alberta. Start your job search now.
Browse jobs designed to link foreign workers directly with Alberta
employers.  Alberta employers advertising on our website are aware of the
process to hire foreign workers and may already have a Labour Market
Opinion (LMO).

Professional Associations
Find out more about working in your chosen profession in Alberta

Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of
Alberta Physician Link
College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta
College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta
Immigrate
Make Alberta, Canada your new home. The Aberta Immigrant Nominee Program
(AINP) is the fastest way of gaining permanent residence status in Canada
for you, your spouse and your dependent children. Skilled professionals in
specific industries may be eligible for fast-tracked immigration.

Job Posting Notification
Be notified of new jobs as they are posted:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.canadavisa.com/in-the-us-on-an-h1b-Alberta-pnp-has-a-new-option-f
or-you.html

In the U.S. on an H1B? Alberta PNP has a new option for you - no job offer
required  
Wednesday, 28 May 2008 
The province of Alberta, with its booming economy and expanding cities, has
been working to make it as easy as possible to bring in foreign workers to
contribute to the provincial labour force.  The Strategic Recruitment
Stream, a new pilot project by the Alberta Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
can fast-track the issuance of Canada Permanent Resident visas to people
who are in the United States on temporary work visas.  No job offer
required.

Many Canadian Permanent Resident applicants have previously worked in the
United States on temporary work visas (H1B visas*).  It is a fairly common
path.  Canada is much more open than the United States to the transition of
temporary workers into Permanent Residents; so when U.S. work visas expire,
many workers head north to Canada for Permanent Residency.

By adding the Strategic Recruitment Stream to the Alberta (PNP), the
provincial government is making this easier.  It is essentially saying
that, if a foreign worker can secure a U.S. temporary work visa and has
experience working in the United States, that’s good enough to prove that
the worker can easily integrate into the Alberta workforce.  Therefore, the
requirement for the applicant to have a full-time permanent job offer from
an Alberta employer has been removed, which saves the applicant time, and
gets him/her to Alberta more quickly.

To be eligible, the applicant must be currently employed in the United
States on an H1B visa and have been working there for at least one year.
The year of work experience in the U.S. must be in an occupation that is
listed as one of Alberta’s Regional Occupations under Pressure.
Successful applicants will be nominated by Alberta for Canadian Permanent
Residency, thereby fast-tracking the immigration process.

For those who do not qualify under this new program, there are other
options under the Alberta PNP.  The Strategic Recruitment Stream adds to
the existing PNP, which already has an Employer-Driven stream for skilled
workers, international graduates, and semi-skilled workers, and a
Self-Employed Farmer stream.

Employer-Driven Stream: To qualify under this stream, applicants must have
a permanent, full-time job offer from an Alberta employer.

Skilled Workers -- must have a job offer in a skilled occupation and have
the education and training required for the position.
International Graduates -- must have completed a post-secondary program
from an approved Alberta educational institution and have a job offer in a
skilled occupation.
Semi-Skilled Workers -- must have a job offer in the food and beverage,
hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, or foodservices industries.

Self-Employed Farmer Stream: To qualify as a self-employed farmer, the
applicant must have previous experience managing a farm and have the
education and training necessary to develop a farming business in Alberta.
The applicant must arrange proper financing with a Canadian financial
institution and must satisfy minimum net worth and equity requirements.

Alberta has no limit on the number of people it can nominate for Permanent
Residency.  The Provincial Nominee Program is an attractive option for
people who wish to have their immigration applications fast-tracked.

*also includes H1B1, H1C, and E3 visas.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/07/valuable_h1b_wo.ht
ml

Valuable H-1B Workers Alberta-Bound As Congress Fiddles

Posted by Paul McDougall, Jul 23, 2008 11:42 AM


Lawmakers in the Canadian province of Alberta are cashing in on the United
States' failure to enact a rational immigration policy for skilled workers
-- they're recruiting H-1B visa holders whose permits are about to expire.

Alberta over the past few years has enjoyed one of the highest economic
growth rates in the Western world, thanks mostly to soaring energy prices
that have made it enormously profitable to extract oil from the province's
mucky tar sands.

Northern Alberta is seeing its own version of the California gold rush or
the Alaska oil boom. Thousands of workers from across Canada and around the
world are flocking, wide-eyed, to the tiny, northern town of Fort McMurray
to sign up for six-figure jobs at the nearby oil sands.

The influx is such that studio apartments in the spartan, frontier outpost
are now renting at Manhattan prices.

Despite this, estimates show that Alberta will need tens of thousands of
more workers -- skilled and unskilled -- in the coming years to keep things
humming. In one week alone in 2006, $38 billion in new Alberta oil sands
investments were announced by international petro-giants like Royal Dutch
Shell.

Faced with a labor shortage, Alberta officials are looking to the United
States -- where each year thousands of foreign technologists are forced to
leave after using up the allotted six years on their H-1B visas. Under an
Alberta pilot program, U.S. H-1B holders are now eligible for immediate,
permanent residency in the province and, by extension, the rest of Canada.

To qualify, the visa holders must work in a profession in which Alberta
foresees a labor crunch. The list includes computer and information systems
engineers and managers.

"Alberta has the strongest and fastest growing economy in Canada, giving
you the security and stability you've been searching for," reads a
government Web site targeted toward U.S. H-1B workers. "The air is clean,
the sky is blue, and the people are as friendly as you've heard," the site
boasts.

Contrast that with the message that the U.S., facing its own shortage of
tech workers according to no less an authority than Bill Gates, implicitly
sends to H-1B workers: "Thanks for the six years; now get out!"

That's because U.S. immigration rules offer no direct path from skilled,
temporary worker status to permanent resident. An H-1B visa is good for
three years, and can be renewed only once. And putting in six years on an
H-1B offers no automatic route to a green card.

For many, it's back to Bangalore or elsewhere after more than half a decade
gaining experience amid the computer industry's best and brightest in
Silicon Valley. The upshot: Experienced IT pros with world-class training
and education are leaving the country in droves at the very time when the
U.S. needs more of them to remain globally competitive.

Meanwhile, Congress, including lawmakers from both sides of the aisle,
tosses around so-called immigration "reform" packages that would give
clemency to tens of thousands of lawbreakers who entered or stayed here
illegally -- many of whom are violent felons, while countless others are
completely bereft of skills or even basic familiarity with English -- while
doing nothing to help talented professionals remain in the country.

Is it any wonder that Microsoft recently opened new offices not in
Washington state, but an hour north of the border in Vancouver?

Here's what Congress should do to right this ridiculous situation. H-1B
workers who have been employed productively in the U.S. for six consecutive
years, and who have broken no laws, should be eligible to become permanent
residents. Period.

Otherwise, U.S. tech giants like Microsoft, IBM, and HP, unable to retain
the talent they need, will continue to send more work up north or overseas.
And other countries will be more than happy to welcome immigrant workers
trained at American expense. "You'll never have to worry about your visa
expiring again," says Alberta's Web site.

The United States, meanwhile, in effect becomes a net exporter of IT pros,
scientists and engineers -- and a net importer of busboys.

Alberta bound, anyone?


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