Hi everyone. My name is Jade Calver I own and operate Calver and Associates
Immigration Services. We're a full-service immigration firm located in
the heart of Oshawa, Ontario. Today I'm going to be talking about how employers
can hire foreign tech talent to work at their companies in Canada. Immigration
Canada - so that's our federal immigration ministry - they have a great program which
is called the global talent stream. It was launched a few years ago and it
allows innovative, usually tech-based firms to hire tech foreign workers to
work at their companies in Canada short term. In order to qualify so if you're
reading online there are two categories. There's the category A of the stream or
category B. Most of the employers that I work with use category B. Category A I'll
cover briefly. So it has to be you have to be an entity that is designated by
the government they're usually innovative municipalities or certain
incubators that are designated to hire under the global talent stream. Category
B on the other hand is actually for those wanting to hire people working in
certain occupations. So that could be web developers is very popular, software
developers, there's a whole list of occupations that if you're hiring
someone in that occupation you can use the global talent stream to get them an
LMIA and then a work permit. So if you're supporting the person's work permit in
Canada you have to pay a $1000 Canadian processing fee which is not
refundable to the government and then you also have to show proof of business
legitimacy in an application. So that's usually proof of incorporation and proof
that you can afford to pay the foreign worker I usually provide an attestation
from your accountant to show that you can afford that salary. As part of the
application there's also what we call a labor market benefits plan and so what
they really like to see here is that you're creating jobs from hiring this
you know senior tech person. There are a host of different activities listed
on the website that you can use as part of your labor market benefits plan but
in our experience, it really helps if you show that you're going to create some
co-op opportunities or a junior role in your company in order to help support
this foreign worker who's there and help with the canadian economy of course. You
don't have to show any recruitment so you don't have to advertise the position
which is really nice - it's a great part of the application. Lastly lots of people
they always ask you know how much do I have to pay this foreign worker so
depends on the occupation is the answer. So we have in Canada what's called a
median prevailing wage for each region, for each occupation. So you'll have an
occupation code for example, if it's web developer and they're working in Toronto
there will be a certain minimum amount it's usually about eighty to ninety
thousand dollars that you'll have to offer the foreign worker as a wage in
order to have the application processed. So in terms of a checklist and kind of
how we work with you. So step one is we confirm that both you as the employer and
you as the - and the person who's you're wanting to hire that the person is eligible for
immigration and the program and that you are an
eligible employer. I like to see businesses that have been in business
for usually at least two years is ideal. Again a lot of startups use this
program so we can work our way around it but ideally you've been in business for a
couple of years. Step two, so we help you to fill the application forms
for the candidate and that includes the labor market benefits plan. Again we also
like to include in the application, proof that you actually have work for the
foreign worker. We find that we get a lot of pushback from ESDC in terms of
providing proof that you have something for the foreign worker to work on especially
you have to be careful in some tech positions, depending on the software
they're working on it needs to - they prefer that it's proprietary to the firm
so that's something we help you work on as well. And then we help you to review
any additional contracts that need to be included, so the contract with the
foreign worker and then that's submitted to ESDC. Once that's submitted
you'll have a call - we usually assist our employers with the call and the
program officer will go over the details of the application so everything from
something as simple as how long you've been in business to the specific
duties that the foreign worker will be performing. You do really have to be
careful to make sure that your job code and your job duties match or else you
could unfortunately have a refusal under the global talent stream. So the global
talent stream is a really great way to bring foreign talent who are working in
tech quickly to Canada. You can also use it to hire people who are already working
in Canada to help them extend their stay. If you have any questions about helping
your foreign tech workers either stay or come to Canada we'd be happy to assist.
You can find us online at calverimmigrationservices.com