New Canada Rules Grants Work Permit

New Canada Rules Grants Work Permit/Temporary Resident Visa Within 2 Weeks For Skilled Workers

The Canadian Government has now made it possible to get a work permit, and in some cases, temporary resident visa for skilled immigrants within two weeks.

This can be done through the Global Skills Strategy program which was launched last year. The Global Skills Strategy was an initiative to help eligible employers of skilled labor get workers from abroad faster.

It was meant to address the shortage of skilled workers in some sectors of the economy. The government recognized that the lack of skilled labor was slowing economic growth in the country.

Therefore the main beneficiaries of the program are:

1. Fast-growing firms that need access to talents around the world

2. International companies seeking to make a huge investment in Canada or relocating to Canada to provide jobs.

3. Global companies already in Canada who are expanding production or establishing new production plants.

Faster Visa processing time

Even though the Global Skills Strategy was launched last year to make it easier to bring in new workers, it still took over six months for companies to get qualified workers from abroad.

Sometimes the waiting period can last up to year. Companies had lost very skilled workers to other countries due to the time wasted in getting work permits.

With the new initiative, two weeks is the time frame necessary to issue the visa by the embassies. It is hoped that apart from bringing in the much-needed workers, the initiative would help create more Canadian jobs for the citizens of Canada.

How the visa can be obtained

Employers who have already identified a skilled worker from abroad must contact the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office to initiate the process.

A processing fee of $1000 is paid by each company for each visa request under this program. This fee does not include the cost of getting actual Canadian visas. It is just the fee paid by the companies to initiate the two-week accelerated visa process.
Read also: Documents needed to get a Canadian study visa

The companies would then be guided on how to complete the Labour Market Impact Assessment and Labour Market Benefit Plan forms.

Waiting period

The government hopes that in about 80% of cases, the processing time should not take more than 10 working days.

Other beneficiaries

The new initiative also included some new visa exemptions. Two categories of workers are affected by this exemption:Very skilled and talented workers who need to come to Canada for a short period to complete to do a job would not need to apply for work permitsAcademic researchers involved in short-term research or academic projects in Canada will not require a work permit to travel to Canada from their countries.
How students can benefit from the programsPart of the accelerated visa program includes a clause to grant dependents of the skilled workers study permits within two weeks.
Read also: Student visa interview frequently asked questions and answersSo if your legal guardians are beneficiaries of the program, you can seize the opportunity to apply to study at a Canadian University. Your student visa would be granted within two weeks.

Important components of the plan

Only companies granted permission to hire foreign workers through the Global Talent Stream program would benefit from this new plan
Foreign nationals classified under job skill type O of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) can also benefit. These are workers with experience as executives or managerial cadre level workers..
Foreign workers applying through Canada’s International Mobility Program are eligible as long as they are classified as Skill Level A, i.e Professionals, under the National Occupational Classification.
Foreign workers under NOC classification ‘O’ and ‘A’ are also eligible for work permit exemptions.
Foreign eligible workers under the new rules would be allowed a 15-day stay without a work permit every six months. Or a 30-day stay without a work permit every 12 months.
In the new regulation, researchers would be allowed to stay for up to 120 days without a work permit every 12 months if they are working on a research in a government-funded University or affiliated research centers.