Canada’s Global Skills Strategy program endeavours to make it simpler and faster for Canadian businesses to hire the highly skilled temporary foreign talent needed to help the country compete in a global marketplace. The Global Skills Strategy features faster application processing times, work permit exemptions and enhanced customer service.
Through the Global Skills Strategy’s Global Talent Stream, eligible Canadian employers can be matched with highly skilled foreign talent. The two-year pilot program launched in June 2017 falls under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and is designed to help Canadian companies that are poised for growth hire foreign nationals who will help take them to the next level. To participate, innovative Canadian firms must be referred to Employment and Social Development Canada by a designated referral partner and demonstrate a need to fill an in-demand, highly-skilled position on the Global Talent Occupations List.
A foreign national hired by a Canadian employer through the Global Talent Stream may be eligible for an expedited two-week processing of their work permit application if certain requirements have been met. These requirements for Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)-exempt workers are:
- The worker must be applying from outside Canada
- The job being applied for must be either skill type 0 (managerial) or skill level A (professional) of the National Occupational Classification
LMIA-required workers qualify for two-week processing if they meet these requirements:
- They are applying from outside Canada
- They have a positive LMIA through the Global Talent Stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (this will be on the LMIA decision letter)
Selected foreign nationals won’t need to apply for a visa or eTA. Those documents will be provided along with other needed documents in an expedited fashion.
Spouses, partners and dependent children of eligible workers who are hired through the Global Talent Stream may also be eligible for two-week processing of their applications, including applications for visitor visas, work permits and study permits. Family members must submit their completed applications at the same time as the worker.
For some short-term work assignments, highly skilled workers may be eligible for work permit exemptions. For work permit exemptions, the following requirements must be met:
· The job applied for falls under skill type 0 (executive, managerial) or skill level A (professional) in the National Occupational Classification
· The applicant will only work for a short period of time: up to 15 consecutive days, once every six months, or up to 30 consecutive days, once every 12 months
Researchers who meet the following requirements may also be eligible for work permit exemptions:
· The worker will perform research at a Canadian publicly funded, degree-granting institution or its affiliated research institution.
· The applicant will work for one 120-day period in Canada, once every 12 months.
