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04 July 2018
Background
Benefits plan
Transition plan
Comment
In June 2017 Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) introduced the Global Talent Stream – a two-year pilot project providing Canadian employers expedited access to unique, specialised and highly skilled temporary foreign workers.
By using the Global Talent Stream, employers may apply for a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) under two categories:
LMIAs filed under the Global Talent Stream are fast tracked and simpler; there is no minimum recruitment requirement and most applications are processed in 10 business days instead of the usual 12-week processing period for regular LMIAs.
In addition, under the Global Talent Stream, employers must develop a benefits plan rather than a transition plan, which is required in a regular LMIA.
But what is the difference between these two types of plan?
The benefits plan is used to:
The benefits plan contains mandatory commitments that vary depending on the Global Talent Stream category that an employer uses and other complementary commitments.
Under Category A applications, employers must commit to creating jobs (directly or indirectly) for Canadians and permanent residents. Under Category B applications, they must commit to increasing skills and training investments for Canadians and permanent residents. In addition to these mandatory commitments, employers must also commit to two complementary benefits, which may include:
Employers that wish to hire temporary workers in high-wage roles by using a regular LMIA must submit a transition plan along with their application and must undertake to:
Therefore, in the transition plan, employers must clearly demonstrate how they will transition from a foreign workforce to a Canadian one during the temporary worker's employment.
In order to comply with ESDC requirements, employers must conduct:
Further, rather than conducting these recruitment, retention or training activities for Canadians or permanent residents, employers may opt to implement a single activity; that is, facilitating the permanent resident process for the persons who are the subject of the LMIAs by offering them, for example:
Once employers have chosen their activities, they must:
Employers may also be exempt from presenting a transition plan in cases of:
Although the benefits plan and the transition plan differ significantly, they both aim to increase the number of Canadians or permanent residents employed in Canada by either:
For further information on this topic please contact Arlin Sahinyan at Fasken by telephone (+1 514 397 7400) or email (asahinyan@fasken.com). The Fasken website can be accessed at www.fasken.com.
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