British Columbia plans to lure more foreign students and encourage them to stay to fill the province's employment gap.
About a million new jobs are forecast over the next decade, while only about 650,000 people are expected to graduate from the province's high schools, according to the Vancouver Sun. The province wants the national government to let graduates from abroad stay in the hope that they will help build trade, investment and cultural links with their native countries, helping make B.C. North America's "Asia-Pacific gateway."
Immigrants are behind one in five U.S. startups (and about 40 percent of tech startups), according to a study last week by the National Venture Capital Association. Post-Sept. 11 rules have made it more difficult to enter the U.S. and there is vocal opposition to allowing more people with technical skills.
Meanwhile, Vancouver already has one of the world's highest rates of foreign-born population, according to a survey in The Economist. Current rules allow graduates to work for a year in Vancouver or two years in the rest of B.C. after school. Plans call for extending that to two years for the entire province.