We updated this publication on May 18, 2023.

The Global Talent Stream is the central pillar of the Government of Canada’s Global Skills Strategy: an immigration program designed to help high-growth, innovative businesses bring unique and specialized global talent to Canada in a timely manner. And five years in, the Global Talent Stream has proven to have legs as an effective program that helps many Canadian companies attract and retain global talent. Here’s a quick look at the Global Talent Stream program and five practical learnings to help you put it to work for your business.

The Global Talent Stream Program

The Global Talent Stream offers you yet another immigration path to recruit foreign nationals, joining the growing cast of immigration programs that includes (among others) Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP), the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker and Trades Programs, the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFWP) and International Mobility Programs and treaty-related routes (like CUSMA). You can take advantage of the Global Talent Stream by submitting an application via one of the program’s two categories. Applications receive a prioritized standard of service from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and benefit from an expedited 10-business day processing time (although the actual processing time is currently longer though still shorter than for many other programs).

Category A. To apply for Category A you must be referred to ESDC by a “designated referral partner” and must demonstrate to ESDC that unique and specialized foreign talent is required for your business to scale-up and grow.

• Designated Referral Partners.As of December 2021, the federal government has designated 26 organizations across Canada as referral partners.
• Unique & specialized talent.ESDC will consider a foreign national to have unique and specialized talent if they have all of:
  • Advanced knowledge of the industry in which the employer seeks to hire the foreign national.
  • An advanced degree in an area of specialization of interest to the employer and / or a minimum of five years of experience in the field of specialized experience.
  • A highly paid position with a salary usually of $80,000.00 or more.

Category B. Category B of the Global Talent Stream is intended to assist Canadian companies fill in-demand, highly skilled positions on ESDC’s Global Talent Occupations List, which have been determined to be in-demand and for which there is insufficient domestic labour.

Labour Market Benefits Plan. Whether you apply under either Category A or Category B, you must work with ESDC to develop a Labour Market Benefits Plan. These plans must contain firm commitments by you to take measures that will benefit the Canadian labour market. You must make both mandatory and complementary commitments whether you apply under either Category A or Category B:

• Firm Commitments.If you apply under Category A, you must commit to creating jobs, either directly or indirectly, for Canadian citizens or permanent residents. If you apply for Category B, you must commit to increasing skills and training investments for Canadians and permanent residents.
• Complementary Commitments.You must also make two complementary commitments that could include (but aren’t limited to) job creation, investment in skills and training, transferring knowledge to Canadians and permanent residents, enhanced company performance and implementing best practices or policies as an employer.

Compliance Reviews. After ESDC has approved the Labour Market Benefit Plan, it can conduct compliance reviews every six months to ensure you’re meeting your Labour Market Benefits Plan commitments. Of course, you’re also required to comply with Canadian immigration law requirements generally.

Wages. In addition to commitments you make in your Labour Market Benefit Plan, you must pay wages to the foreign workers that are similar to wages paid to Canadians and permanent residents who share the same job, skills, work location and experience.

5 Practical Learnings

To help you put the Global Talent Stream program to work for you, here are five practical learnings about the program based on our experience working with it.

1. The designated referral partners have discretion over what applicants they refer to Category A.

By requiring Category A applicants be referred by a designated referral partner, the federal government is effectively relying on them – and giving them the discretion – to pick the right type of companies to participate in the Global Talent Stream program. However, ESDC has given each designated referral partner written guidance on the type of companies to refer to the program and instructed them to consider such criteria as: your income; growth over the past several years; and whether you’re in high-growth sectors or doing innovative work.

2. You need an established relationship with a designated referral partner to play in Category A.

The practical result of the referral requirement, combined with ESDC’s expectation that the designated referral partners have direct knowledge of the referred companies and their businesses:  you must have an established relationship with a designated referral partner before seeking referral to the program. This is fantastic for companies already interacting with the designated referral partners: they are already insiders. But it also means that Category A is effectively a closed program, open only to companies with an already-existing relationship with a designated referral partner. The learning: get to know your local designated referral partner before – not after – you apply for the program.

3. The Category A assessment process has two phases – and is time-consuming.

For a standard Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) outside of the Global Talent Stream, one ESDC officer is normally assigned to the file. But inside the Global Talent Stream, and specifically Category A applications, it appears there are two officers assigned and two distinct assessment phases. The first officer’s role seems to be to confirm the completeness of the application, while the second officer undertakes a comprehensive review of the application to determine if it meets program requirements and engages directly with the applicant on the Labour Market Benefits Plan. Your lead should be well-briefed on the LMIA application and the proposed Labour Market Benefits Plan and prepared to spend several hours working with ESDC to finalize the plan. Our experience is the ESDC officer assessing the application will take an hour or more to review the Labour Market Benefits Plan with you and many of the questions are very in-depth and involve specific human resources practices and the commitments you’ll be making to support the plan.

4. Canadian recruitment requirements are (likely) reduced but some effort is still (likely) required.

The Global Talent Stream program documentation doesn’t expressly specify the recruitment efforts you must have made before you’re eligible as either Category A or B applicants. But despite this we think ESDC still expects you to have made reasonable efforts to locate a suitable Canadian before applying and to have documented these efforts – and might refuse an application if it hasn’t. The program guidelines state, “While there is no minimum recruitment requirement for the Global Talent Stream, you are encouraged to recruit Canadians and permanent residents before offering a job to a temporary foreign worker. You will be asked, as part of your application to describe any recruitment efforts conducted.”

5. Category A companies are entering into a long-term relationship with ESDC.

If you’re successful, your human resources manager or program lead should closely track progress on the Labour Market Benefits Plan and be prepared to provide regular updates. The Global Talent Stream contemplates that Category A companies will have regular six-month follow-up calls with ESDC to review and track progress on the Labour Market Benefits Plan. This means not only that you must pay close attention to you Labour Market Benefits Plan and document efforts to achieve it, but also that you’re truly entering into a long-term partnership with ESDC. Unlike a typical LMIA application where, for many applicants, contact with ESDC ends with approval (unless they’re selected for review/audit), participants in the Global Talent Stream Category A will have regular contact with ESDC for several years.

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Please contact your McInnes Cooper lawyer or any member of the our Businesss Immigration Team @ McInnes Cooper to discuss how you can put the Global Talent Stream to work for you.