Highly-skilled workers interested in settling in Newfoundland and Labrador as immigrants can soon get the ball rolling on that process through a new specialized program.
Priority Skills Newfoundland and Labrador will accept applications beginning at noon on Jan 2, 2021. Targeting recent Memorial University graduates and highly-skilled workers from foreign countries, the program will look to fill gaps in the technology and ocean sciences sectors, among others, where demand to fill jobs is especially high. According to a news release issued Tuesday, this demand in some cases has outpaced local training and recruitment.
According to the release, the Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism has received hundreds of inquiries from professionals around the world since the Priority Skills was first announced just over a month ago. The province has set a target to increase immigration to 2,500 new permanent residents annually by 2022.
The program is open to newcomers who completed a Masters or Doctorate degree at Memorial University within the last three years, as well as highly-educated and skilled workers who have worked in specialized, high-demand fields for at least one year. Among those in-demand recruits are software developers, artificial intelligence developers, cloud specialists and bioinformaticians.
“Newfoundland and Labrador invests a great deal of time, effort, and money to attract newcomers to our shores," Immigration, Skills and Labour Minister Gerry Byrne said in the release. "Once we attract newcomers, we invest even more into our own Memorial University for education and training. Driven by the leadership of the premier, our government is now investing to assist more highly-skilled, highly educated newcomers to stay, right here, and go on to have full careers and raise families throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Detailed application instructions will be posted on the Department of Immigration, Skills and Labour’s website, and potential applicants can send questions to [email protected].
