One can’t deny that the pillar of every progressing economy is its foreign-skilled workforce. IT boomed in the 90s, which led to a significant rise in the demand for Indian professionals. The demand has been growing since, as observed by Indeed. The recent data revealed that Indians are scouting for job opportunities in the US, Canada, UK, UAE, Australia and Singapore.

On the flip side, the phenomenon has also led to a global tech talent shortage, as stated in a recent NASSCOM report. According to Korn Ferry’s research on the talent gap, there will still be 85 million vacancies worldwide by 2030. To fill in this widening talent gap, Indians with professional tech skills continue to look overseas for opportunities. 

Countries rolling out red carpets for Indians

Globally, companies are rushing to tap India’s wealth of highly skilled IT talent. In FY2022, a major player in the competition, the US selected 131,970 registrations out of 308,613 registrations. Interestingly, Indians are the largest H1-B Visa holders, with a substantial year-on-year increase in the strength of professionals.

Previously, in October 2017, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a memo that increased the denials of H-1B petitions. Japan grabbed the opportunity, welcomed Indians and introduced the green card. The green card programme applies to all nationalities, but Indian techies hold an advantage. To attract investment and workforce, the Japanese government lawfully reduced the waiting time for Indians to 24–48 months to obtain permanent residency status via a green card.

Despite its traditionally-closed society, Japan needs migrants due to its labour shortages. As its population ages, its working-age population (15–64 years old) has been declining since the mid-1990s. According to the United Nations, its total population could decline from 126 million in 2020 to 75 million in 2100. As a result, its working-age population could fall from 59 to 51 per cent of the total population.

But Japan was not the only one to play the residency card when the US tightened the rules on H-1B visas. Canada became a popular alternative with its open-door immigration policies. As a result, in 2018, an estimated 39,000 Indians got permanent residency in Canada.

Techies also started exploring opportunities in Europe. During this paradigm shift, the head of the EU parliamentary delegation, David McAllister, said that Europe was allowing more Indian professionals who are highly skilled. Furthermore, he also mentioned that their IT sector would not have been successful without professionals from India.

Between 2005 and 2020, the proportion of Indians also doubled in Singapore from 13% to 26%. The locals blame the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)—an agreement signed between Singapore and India to let Indians into Singapore to steal their jobs. As per manpower ministry data for 2022, there are 1,305,800 foreign workers in Singapore, including 168,800 EP holders, with most of them in information and technology.

Amending laws, introducing programmes 

The relationship between Indian techies and foreign countries is mutually beneficial. Countries rolled out the red carpet for Indian techies by introducing several programmes. Due to the rising difficulty, companies started adjusting their policies to secure more migrants.

In 2021, the UK announced the Global Talent Visa Program replacing the Tier 1 Exceptional Talent Visa. Earlier in 2019, Australia joined the race by launching the Global Talent Independent Program (GTI). Furthermore, there are other ways techies can attain immigration, such as subclass Visa 491, 190, 189, TSS 482 Visa, and 186. 

Following the trend, Canada emerged as a hotspot for Indian tech professionals. Besides its PR visa options, Canada offers a GTS visa to let Canadian businesses bring in skilled talent to the country in a matter of two weeks. The GTS scheme launched in 2017 has become permanent now. Out of the 12 targeted occupations, a total of ten occupations fall under the IT domain.