Canada is making an aggressive effort to attract highly skilled researchers from around the world, including H-1B visa holders in the United States who are coming under growing pressure because of the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies and cuts to research funding.
The Canadian government on Tuesday said it would spend more than $1 billion over the next few years to attract and retain scientists from around the world, including those at major hospitals and universities.
It also said that in coming months it would create an “accelerated pathway” for U.S. H-1B visa holders. H-1B visas are issued to highly skilled people working for American companies and are concentrated in major industries that compete for global talent, such as technology and medicine.
“As other countries constrain academic freedoms and undermine cutting-edge research, Canada is investing, and doubling down, on science,” Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Industry minister, said in written comments to the press, without explicitly mentioning the United States.
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