Global Talent Stream’s expansion took place on December 22 through Employment and Social Development Canada. This implies that GTS extended the list of eligible occupations by adding five new careers.
ESDC is a government organization that looks forward to supporting the Canadian labor force. Therefore, it supervises immigration matters, including providing the LMIA, and also looks after the GTS.
The Global Talent Stream is a work permit program that focuses on faster processing to support employers in hiring skilled foreign workers, specifically in the technology sector.
The service standard for processing work permit applications under GTS is two weeks. This stream applies to employers who are willing to recruit skilled foreign workers under one out of the total 17 in-demand occupations. Furthermore, they can apply for and obtain work permits under this stream due to insufficient labor.
Global Talent Stream’s expansion with five eligible occupations
Initially, the list of eligible occupations comprised only 12 occupations, but it has now extended to 17 eligible occupations. The additional programs are related to five engineering roles. They’re as follows:
- Civil Engineers
- Aerospace Engineers
- Electric and Electronic Engineers
- Computer Engineers (excluding software engineers and designers)
- Mining Engineers
The reason behind additional eligible occupations
The urgent requirement for Canada’s engineering labor is evident with the incorporation of five new eligible occupations under the GTS. 2022 also witnessed a rising trend of focusing on particular professions for Canadian immigration. This happened only to confront and combat Canadian labor market requirements.
The initiatives include the following:
- Introducing the New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot as an attempt to work with six employers to confront New Brunswick’s labor requirements.
- Removing existing barriers for Physicians seeking permanent residence via Express Entry. This took place due to the acute Canadian labor shortage, specifically in the healthcare sector.
- Approving Bill C-19, which gave immense control to Sean Fraser to create policy-based Express Entry groups in the pool and issue ITAs to the groups. As a result, Express Entry will emphasize the targeted occupations in 2023.
Currently, Canada is facing severe labor shortages and an increasing number of retirees after the pandemic got over. Moreover, the current situation makes it apparent that Canada will combat the shortages by targeting occupations. Overall, Canada has understood that immigration is the key factor responsible for combatting labor demands and requirements.
Therefore, employers seeking to hire foreign talent through the Global Talent Stream need to make sure that they get their applications ready in a systematic way. They must also develop a Labour Markets Benefits Plan to show that they will remain focused on activities positively impacting the Canadian labor market.
Hiring an immigration lawyer can ease the process of preparing applications and comply with the programs in the most accurate way possible.
