Highly qualified professionals can move to Canada through an accelerated program

Almost all of Canada's employment sectors now have many high-paying jobs — there are more than a million jobs nationwide. The government offers various fast-track programs to help employers hire high-skilled foreign workers.

One such program, the Global Talent Stream (GTS), targets unique talents and high-skilled individuals in the technical industry. GTS is included in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and helps expedite the processing of work permit and temporary resident visa applications. Selected candidates can start working as early as two weeks from the date of employment.

The GTS has two categories. Fast-growing companies that can demonstrate a need to recruit unique talents from overseas fall into Category A. Employers in this category must be referred to GTS by a referral partner. A list of the latter is published on Canada's website.

Category B is intended for employers wishing to hire highly qualified foreign workers for specific professions. The list is periodically updated according to the needs of the labour market.

Foreign workers hired through GTS must be paid at or above the prevailing wage rate. The program requires employers to pay workers at the highest of the following five rates:

• the average wage for an occupation in Canada's Job Bank;
• the wage in the range that the employer pays current employees (in the same position, at the same location, and with the same skills/experience);
• the minimum wage determined by the list of Global Talent Occupations (Category B);
• the hourly wage must match the prevailing wage for the occupation and be at least $80,000 USD (Category A).