Work Visa Guide for Employer
Canada is one of the few countries in the Western World that is actively looking for immigrants, so any non-Canadian candidate you wish to employ may well qualify for Independent Immigration under the points system. Unfortunately, Independent immigration takes so long to process, that any urgently required staff will probably have to be transferred using visas sponsored by you; with your help a visa can be obtained in only a few weeks.
Canadian Employment Authorisation (employer sponsorship)
Time to obtain Canada work visa:
2 to 6 weeks.
Uses:
This category is frequently used by employers to bring in senior managers/executives. It can also be used to employ highly skilled individuals to fill a vacancy which has been validated to show that, despite significant recruitment efforts, it has not been possible to find a suitably skilled Canadian permanent resident. The following categories of foreign workers do not need to be validated by a Human Resource Centre in Canada which makes an application somewhat easier:
- Senior managers or executives seeking to enter Canada as intra-company transferees.
- Some musicians and performers who have a contract to perform in Canada.
- Volunteers who have been offered positions with registered Canadian religious or charitable organisations.
- Exchange Professors.
- Post-doctoral fellows.
- Film crews going to film documentaries or travelogues in Canada.
Engineers or technicians going to supervise the installation of equipment sold by their company to a Canadian purchaser or going to repair or service such equipment.
Not to be used for:
Apart from the above exceptions, vacancies will need to be 'validated' by the Canadian Human Resource Centre, which needs to be persuaded that there are no Canadians, or permanent residents who can fill the vacancy. There is little point in applying for validation unless the candidate has skills in very short supply.
Dependants
Generally the spouse of those with work authorisation will need to have their own work authorisation to be able to work in Canada. This means that their job offer will have to be validated by the Canadian Human Resources Centre as described above. The only difference is that they can apply from within Canada. If however their spouses qualify as Highly Skilled Temporary Workers, they can get EAs under the Spousal Employment Authorization Pilot for Highly Skilled Temporary Workers.
IT professionals
A special project has been developed to streamline the inflow of highly skilled Software Professionals. Read more about the project.
Data required
Completed form, Job offer, qualifications, and employer references. Also, if relevant the validation from a Canadian Human Resources Centre.
