March 13, 2017

“Global Talent” Pilot Stream

On 9 March 2017, Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development, and Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced a new “Global Talent” pilot stream for temporary foreign workers that will be launched on 12 June 2017. This program will facilitate companies in Canada to bring highly trained and skilled foreign nationals to Canada and create more Canadian jobs. The goal is to help innovative companies grow by ensuring they can access the highly skilled talent they need quickly.

The new stream will let eligible employers use a new streamlined labour-market impact assessment program that will guide them through the application process in 10 business days, and process worker’s work permit applications, also in 10 days.

A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada indicated that details are still being finalized, but that high-wage foreign nationals are typically permitted two years to work in Canada and extensions are available with no maximum duration.

For more information on LMIA/Work Permits, please click here.

(Sources)