“We’ve had discussions with a number of labour organizations in Chicago who’ve been doing work with decision-makers in the United States — and with the Canadian and US ambassadors — to try to find avenues where we might be able to accelerate access of skilled labour into Alberta,” said Redford adding that the province is looking for workers with specific skill sets to fill key positions in Alberta.

A new Calgary Economic Development study reveals the 25 occupations that will be most needed in the coming years. The list includes engineers, geologists, nurses, plumbers and carpenters. The following information was obtained:

• The salary typically paid in other cities in Canada to people in each occupation.
• The likelihood that professionals in Alberta would choose to stay and not move elsewhere.
• The age of the workforce. This is useful to know. It has been found that statistically younger people are more likely to move.

The demand for labour in Alberta is expected to increase by more than 600,000 workers by 2021. It is estimated that if nothing is done there will be about 114,000 unfilled vacancies.

The study also included several cities in Canada, the US, the UK, and Ireland that are most likely to have suitable candidates to help deal with the impending labour shortages. Some of the cities in the list are Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, Dublin and London.

If you wish to work in Alberta you can apply for a work visa under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program which allows Canadian companies to hire foreign workers temporarily to help support economic growth. In order to apply you must meet the following requirements:

• Have a job offer from a Canadian employer.
• Have written confirmation from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) that the employer cannot find a local worker to fill the vacancy. Please note, in most cases, it is up to your employer to get that written confirmation and, also, in some cases, you do not need a labour market opinion.
• Show that you have enough money to support yourself and your family while you are in Canada.

The labour market opinion assesses how the offer of employment would likely affect Canadian jobs and Canada’s labour market. When assessing a job offer, HRSDC considers the following:

• the occupation that the foreign worker will be employed in;
• the wages and working conditions offered;
• the employer’s advertisement and recruitment efforts;
• the labour market benefits related to the entry of the foreign worker;
• the consultations, if any, with the appropriate union; and
• whether the entry of the foreign worker is likely to affect the settlement of a labour dispute.

Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in Canada. Please check our Canadian page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/canada.html

Looking at the huge shortage of the nurses in the United States today, this has gone up to 117,000 for the case of unfilled vacancies for registered and qualified nurses, at different hospitals and nursing homes across the United States.

As a resolution to the above mentioned problem on the 11^th of Feb in 2009. A new act was introduced in the house known as the Nurse Relief Act HR 1001. The crux of this new Act is that a new category of visas, the W – Visa category would be introduced which would only be for the nurses from all over the world to come over to the United States. The annual capping for this new visa category would be currently at 50000.

The nurses and the physiotherapists fall in Schedule A, They get preference under the third preference employment immigrant category and thus do not need the labor certification. But currently the visas under the said category for the nurses and the physiotherapists are not available at all and one would be required to wait till October to see the scope coming out of this category.

Again the H-3 temporary non immigrant level visa would allow nurses to enter the United States for the purpose of acquiring training in the said skill and would be expected to leave post the completion of the training.

Similarly, nurses could opt for the J-1 exchange visitor program and enter the United States in the capacity of an exchange visitor training and then leave post the completion of the training. In this visa category they would not allowed to work. But rather this is also a training visa. However the nurses coming under the said J-1 visa category would be eligible to get minimum wage rate, as applicable, under the provisions of the visa category.

The primary reasons for introducing the new W- Visa are:

1. As per the labor department in the United States the shortage of qualified nurses stand at a staggering 120,000. There was an urgent need to address this concern.
2. The states in the West and the Southwest United States have a higher growth rate than the rest of the country.
3. Other countries in the world like India, China and the Philippines have a higher number of nurses that they do not hire as well. Such surplus human resource could be better used in a country like the United States where the demand is higher than the supply.