Canada is going to make it easier for companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers.
The Canadian government will fast-track the processing of work-permit applications through a new initiative.
This will be done through a new federal initiative called “Global Talent Stream”, according to a report by Xinhua news agency
Under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the “Global Talent Stream” will identify qualified high-demand occupations, help Canadian companies complete the application process to hire top foreign talent and prepare a labor market benefits analysis within 10 business days.
The program aims to ensure that when companies apply to hire skilled workers from abroad, they will demonstrate “how they’re building knowledge in Canada”, said Canadian Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Patty Hajdu.
Hajdu said Peraso Technologies Inc. is among the companies expected to benefit from the new program.
The wireless semiconductors designer once tried to import a technician who can help make the company’s chips run faster. But the work permit application got caught up in Ottawa’s red tape, and after seven months’ of waiting, the prospective employee accepted another offer.
“We’re trying to prevent situations like that,” said the minister in the Xinhua report.
By 2019, the information and communications sector will expect a need of 182,000 workers in Canada.
Meanwhile, the country’s agriculture, forestry, mining and environmental engineering sectors also rely on emerging technology and will have to look overseas for talent, said Hajdu.
Once an employer’s plan is approved, the work-permit application will be processed in 10 days, and the hired foreign worker could be in Canada within four weeks from the start of the process.
Currently, it can take a Canadian employer up to a year to hire a skilled foreign worker, which can stall a company’s growth, according to the Xinhua report.