Faster Processing Times Announced for High-Skilled Workers

This is great news for businesses looking to add high-skilled workers to their work force. Two-week processing time for work permits and temporary resident visas, for both the worker and their accompanying dependents.

Fast application processing, enhanced customer service now available for companies   

June 12, 2017—Toronto, ON – When companies in Canada can thrive and grow, they create more jobs. The Government of Canada’s new Global Skills Strategy will give employers a faster and more predictable process for attracting top talent and new skills to Canada, creating economic growth and more middle-class jobs for Canadians. 

Today, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains and Rodger Cuzner, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced that employers and highly-skilled workers can now benefit from the Global Skills Strategy.

As part of the Strategy, which includes four pillars, high-skilled workers coming to Canada on a temporary basis are now able to benefit from two-week processing of applications for work permits and, when necessary, temporary resident visas. Open work permits for spouses and study permits for dependants will also be processed in two weeks when applicable.

Employers can now benefit from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s new dedicated service channel and the new Global Talent Stream. This will help them access temporary, high-skilled, global talent, scale up or expand their knowledge of specialized skills so that they can be more innovative and build their expertise.

Two new work permit exemptions have also taken effect today. Highly-skilled workers who need to come to Canada for a very short-term assignment and researchers taking part in short-duration research projects being conducted in Canada will not require a work permit. 

First announced in November 2016, the Global Skills Strategy helps promote global investment in Canada and supports the Government of Canada’s Innovation and Skills Plan. It recognizes that by facilitating the faster entry of top talent with specialized skill sets and global experience to Canada, we can help innovative companies grow, flourish and create jobs for Canadians. 

• Companies applying for workers through the Global Talent Stream now have access to a new streamlined process that provides eligible employers with:
• priority processing of applications and a client-focused service for the development of the Labour Market Benefits Plan, with a service standard of 10 business days; and
• flexible recruitment requirements.

• Two-week work permit processing will be available to workers applying from overseas whose employers have been approved to hire a foreign worker through Global Talent Stream, as well as foreign nationals with jobs at skill type 0 (executive, managerial) or skill level A (professional) of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) applying through the International Mobility Program. The two-week service standard would also apply to immediate family members accompanying high-skilled workers to Canada.
• The new work permit exemption for highly-skilled workers applies to all NOC 0 and NOC A workers. Eligible workers will be allowed one 15-day work permit-exempt stay in Canada every six months, or one 30-day work permit-exempt stay every 12 months. 
• Researchers coming to Canada will be permitted one 120-day stay every 12 months without requiring a work permit when they are working on a research project at a publicly-funded degree-granting institution or affiliated research institution. 
• Agreements have been reached with a range of partners who will be able to refer companies to IRCC’s new dedicated service channel and to ESDC’s Global Talent Stream; discussions are continuing with many other potential partners. The goal is to have referral partners in all parts of the country with the significant knowledge and insight needed to refer companies to the dedicated service channel.