Toronto’s Global Talent Stream pilot project fast tracks applicants with tech skills, cutting work permit application processing time down to two weeks.
Approximately 4,000 skilled newcomers have arrived in Canada through the program since its inception in 2017, and it has made Canada more competitive with the US and Europe, whose permit processing times are much longer.
The program benefits Canadian-born citizens too, since an employer must create a plan to create new jobs and skills training for Canadians in order to participate.
In March, the government announced that the pilot program would be made permanent, generating an influx of interest from overseas workers recruited for the program. Since much of Canada’s senior tech talent has been drawn to Silicon Valley in the US, there’s a gap to fill in the labour market.