Canada eyes a tech talent boom as the US slaps $100,000 H-1B fee

For years, the United States has been a magnet for high-skilled tech talent from around the world. But a recent policy shift in Washington may be opening a new door for Canada. In September 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that new H-1B visa applications would now carry a $100,000 fee, a sharp increase from the original $215. These visas, which allow skilled workers with at least a bachelor’s degree to work in the US for three years, have traditionally drawn engineers, programmers, and other tech specialists from across the globe.

The hike has immediate implications. According to Pew Research, roughly 60% of H-1B visas issued since 2012 went to people in computer-related fields. The White House has framed the fee as a measure to protect American workers from being undercut by lower-paid foreign labor, citing a 2020 Economic Policy Institute report which found that 60% of certified H-1B positions paid below the median wage for the role.

A window for Canada
In this context, Prime Minister Mark Carney sees an opening for Canada to attract talent. Speaking at a press conference in London, Carney told the Canadian Press, “Not as many of those people are going to get visas to the United States. And these are people with lots of skills that are enterprising, and they're willing to move to work. So it's an opportunity for Canada, and we're going to take that into account. And we'll have a clear offering on that.”

Carney tempered the optimism with a note of caution, stressing that any admissions would align with Canada’s broader immigration objectives. The government has targeted reducing the share of non-permanent residents to 5% of the population by 2027, down from 7.1% as of April 2025, according to Statistics Canada. An updated immigration levels plan is expected later this month.

Challenges and competing pathways
Yet the road to attracting global tech talent is not without obstacles. Canadian workers have long been drawn south by higher wages. Angus Lockhart, senior policy analyst at the Dais think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University, told the Canadian Press that US tech jobs pay roughly 46% more than comparable positions in Canada. “So Canadian tech workers, Canadian graduates have a really strong incentive to move down south and just earn substantially more than they could if they stay here,” he said.

Moreover, other visa options remain in play. The TN visa under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement offers Canadians a pathway to work in the US, and some American companies can transfer employees through Canadian branches before moving them south. Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators, described this as a potential complicating factor. “Does the shift then go, rather than being from India or from China, that you're now pulling people from Canadian firms or from Canadian universities? So that's something we're heavily monitoring,” Bergen told the Canadian Press.

Strategies to retain talent
Despite these challenges, Canada has reasons for optimism. Immigrants already make up a significant share of the tech workforce: government data shows 35% of Canadian computer programmers are foreign-born, compared with about 26% of the workforce overall.

Bergen emphasized that attracting global talent requires more than responding to US policies. “It can't just be this sort of whack-a-mole, knee-jerk reaction. 'Oh, the Americans have done something dumb. We inherently benefit from it.' That's not how that works,” he said. He pointed to the need for a coherent approach, including integrating Canadian-made technology into public services and procurement processes, following examples from countries like Denmark, Israel, Japan, and Korea.

Lockhart added that while the $100,000 H-1B fee will likely deter some US employers from hiring mid-level international talent, it is unlikely to affect top-tier candidates whose compensation is far higher. “No company is going to balk at that and say, 'We can't hire this person we wanted to pay $5 million to because they had to pay a one-time $100,000 fee,'” he told the Canadian Press.
A delicate balance
Canada’s moment to attract skilled tech workers comes amid competing pressures: the allure of US salaries, the availability of alternative visa pathways, and the government’s own immigration targets. Yet for policymakers and industry leaders, the fee hike offers a rare chance to reposition Canada in the global talent landscape. As Carney observed, it is an opportunity the country cannot ignore.