How could an effective immigration strategy deliver significant workplace ROI?

The recent surge in immigration and enforcement activities in countries, especially in the U.S., has put many employers at greater risk of audit. This rate of changing immigration policies has led to the need for advanced technologies in human resources so that HR professionals can do their jobs effectively. Planning an effective immigration strategy and investing in the right immigration technology can assist HR and talent acquisition teams to perform successfully and acquire the talent pool that apt for their organizations.

By leveraging immigration technology, HR professionals can get in-depth insights into a specific visa that may require more hands-on management. It also provides transparency by making it possible to track all immigration cases and their corresponding deadlines and milestones in one centralized system. According to a survey from Envoy on immigration trends, over 70 percent of employers considered sourcing international talent is key to their talent acquisition strategy. Amidst unyielding immigration norms like the H-1B visa in the US, acquiring skilled global talent has become challenging for employers.

Many employers now are seeking options to secure the best talent for their organizations. LawLogix in Phoenix, Arizona, for instance, incorporates a new technology interface for both HR users and foreign nationals. Since the company looks to capture information faster and more intelligently in a tightening immigration market, the system helps find required documents or information easier. It also enables more efficient communication with international candidates. On the other side, Pearl Law Group, a San Francisco-based immigration services company, recently brought a new platform, Pearl Immigration. It uses cloud-enabled technology to give HR users access to the latest immigration rules, tools, training and action items and integrates with many major HR information system platforms.

Immigration technology has the potential to boost time-savings for an organization's immigration team. As noted by an immigration tech company Envoy, automated questionnaires save time for HR teams as well as employees by identifying fields that have been completed previously or are redundant, and automatically entering in the data. Technology can also assist in prioritizing cases based on expiration dates, start dates and deadlines, keeping HR users informed and updated.

How Immigration Could Benefit Employers in a Nation?

In the current global environment, Canada has an opportunity to leverage immigration and lure high-skilled workers to support its economy, according to Shannon Ker, spokesperson for the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. "Canada has benefitted tremendously from immigration," she said. In the past decade, three-quarters of the country’s population growth has come via immigration, she mentioned. While five million workers in Canada expected to retire by 2036, immigrants will be a major source of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, Shannon said.

According to the head of global immigration at Envoy, Stephanie Lewin, countries like the US and the UK crackdown on immigration. So, Canada is developing policies that welcome these same workers, leading to a brain gain.

Comprehensively, the use of the right immigration technology can save businesses' time and resources as well as helping HR teams to establish an effective program to attract a growing number of global talents.