immigration
Winning the Race for Talent
STRATEGIES FOR HR PROFESSIONALS NAVIGATING
CANADA’S NEW GLOBAL TALENT STREAM
On June 12 of this year, Employment and Social
Development Canada (ESDC) released the Global
Talent Stream (GTS), a two-year pilot program that
forms part of Canada’s Global Skill Strategy and seeks to
enhance the competitiveness of high growth employers and inno-vation
in Canada. The GTS has been developed in order to reduce
the time and complexity required for Canadian employers to se-cure
critical foreign talent integral to their growth and business
plans, while imposing commitments on companies to create posi-tive
impacts on the Canadian labour market.
ELIGIBILITY FOR GTS
In order to be eligible to participate in the GTS, an employer must
meet one of the two talent streams.
The first stream, Category A, requires that an employer be re-ferred
into the program by a designated partner and demonstrate
that the foreign worker holds unique and specialized talent. There
are 17 listed designated partners, which include a number of indus-try
associations such as Communitech, the Council of Canadian
Innovators as well as a number of federal and provincial economic
development agencies. Eligible foreign workers under this stream
would typically receive a salary of CAD$80,000 per year and hold
an advanced degree in an area of expertise that is of interest to an
employer and/or at least five years of specialized work experience.
The second stream, Category B, applies to employers seeking
high skilled foreign workers filling specified shortages listed on a
global talent occupations list. There are currently 11 occupations
listed with a primary focus on jobs in the technology industry.
The specific occupations listed include computer and informa-tion
systems managers, computer engineers, information system
consultants, database analysts/administrators, software engineers,
computer programmers, web designers/developers, electrical/
engineering technologists and technicians, information systems
testing technicians and certain positions in animation and digi-tal
media.
ADVANTAGES OF THE GTS FOR EMPLOYERS
Under the GTS, an employer can obtain a Labour Market Impact
Assessment (LMIA) approval, without having to meet ESDC’s
minimum advertising requirements, within 10 business days
from the date of filing an application. Employers will save signif-icant
time under the GTS in comparison to the regular LMIA
By Naumaan Hameed
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