Canada recruits high-skilled foreigners in US – and gets 10,000 applications

Government launches work permit for foreign workers with H-1B visa in US and meets target number of applicants in just two days

The Canadian government is recruiting high-skilled foreigners working in the United States to move to Canada instead - and the program has been so successful that it met its target of 10,000 applicants in just two days.

Canada this week launched a special work permit for foreign workers who already have obtained an H-1B visa in the US, who number nearly 600,000 and come mostly from India and China. The program's 10,000 quota was filled in the first two days of the week, a spokesman for Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday.