Designated employer streams for fast-track Canada immigration

Canada is a great career destination for a worker from across the globe. A qualified foreign worker can easily obtain a Canadian work permit through one of the designated employer immigration streams. Global Skills Strategy and a few streams of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program come under this category.

A foreign worker becomes eligible to apply under a designated employer stream only if they have received a job offer from a designated employer. A designated employer is a company, which has permission from the federal government or the provincial government to hire foreign workers when they are unable to find qualified workers in Canada to fill the vacancies.

As the designated employer immigration streams do not require a Labour Market Impact Assessment(LMIA), work permits are processed and issued faster. In some cases, it takes only two weeks for the work permit applicants to come to Canada under these streams.

Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program

The Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program aims to attract immigrants to the four Atlantic provinces of Canada, which are Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. The three immigration categories under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program are:

• Atlantic International Graduate Program
• Atlantic High-skilled Program
• Atlantic Intermediate-skilled Program

Once a designated employer offers a job to a particular candidate and matches them with the region’s settlement agencies, the candidate may apply for permanent residence in Canada.

As all the Atlantic Provinces are in dire need of qualified workers, the Program aims to help employers fill vacancies as fast as possible. An LMIA is not necessary under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, and it is a streamlined pathway to Canada permanent residency. Sometimes, those who apply for permanent residence in Canada through the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program become eligible for a temporary work permit if they need to fill an immediate vacancy.

Global Skills Strategy

Canada Government launched the Global Skills Strategy with an aim to help local employers hire foreign talents. The advantages of this pathway include faster processing of an application, exemptions from work permit requirements and enhanced customer service. Under this pathway, applications get processed even within a time period as short as two weeks. But the candidates need to meet certain requirements which are detailed below:

LMIA-exempt workers

• They must be applying from outside Canada
• Their job must fall under skill type 0 or skill level A of the National Occupational Classification (NOC)
• The candidate must have obtained a job offer from the employer through the Employment Portal
• Employer compliance fee needs to be paid

For workers who require an LMIA

• The candidate must be applying from outside Canada
• The employer must have obtained a positive LMIA through the Global Talent Stream under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The Global Skills Strategy gives the much-needed boost to the technology sector of Canada by allowing companies to hire qualified foreign workers. Industry leaders in the country believe that the Global Skills Strategy will give an extra edge for Canada among its competitors in the global technology market.

Choose the right Canada immigration stream

While a designated employer immigration stream is a great choice as an immigration pathway, you need to choose the right stream for you in order to ensure maximum success. To make the best decision, you may seek the help of an expert Canada immigration consultant. Contact ImmiLaw Global to know more about your options to migrate to Canada.