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innovation stream pilot canada

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has recently announced a new “Innovation Stream Pilot” program for temporary foreign workers. This pilot program will run for next two years until 22nd March, 2026.

Innovation Stream Pilot is a Work Permit program, allows foreign nationals to work in Canada for a specific period of time. There are other work permit programs offered by Canadian Immigration such as “Temporary Foreign Workers Program” (TFWP) or “International Mobility Program” (IMP), but the main difference between the old two programs and Innovation Stream Pilot is that the family members of foreign worker are also eligible to get Open Work Permit under this new pilot.

What is Innovation Stream Pilot?

This pilot program makes it easy for some Canadian Companies to hire foreign workers without an LMIA (labour market impact assessment). Occupations under TEER categories 0, 1, 2 or 3 of National Occupation Classification (NOC) are eligible for Canadian work permit under this new pilot.

Job occupations under TEER 0, 1, 2 and 3 are considered professionals and highly skilled. Where as TEER 4 and 5 occupations are semi-skilled and unskilled.

Innovation Stream Pilot is directly linked with the Global Hypergrowth Project of Canadian Government.

What is Global Hypergrowth Project?

Global Hypergrowth Project (GHP) was designed to keep a closer eye on innovative Canadian businesses, to monitor their growth and helping them to create more jobs. Companies achieving rapid growth and thriving in Canadian economic sector are now eligible to hire international talent under the Innovation Stream Pilot.

The Canadian companies under Global Hypergrowth Project are

  • Ada
  • AlayaCare
  • CellCarta
  • Clarius
  • Clio
  • DPG
  • Lightspeed
  • Vive

These are the eligible employers to hire workers globally under Innovation Stream Pilot.

Eligibility, Requirements and Process Time

As there is no random job search to get Canadian Work permit under this new program, the eligibility criteria is simple and process time is fast.

  • Get a Job Offer from any of the eligible employer in an eligible occupation. Eligible occupations are those which falls under TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3.
  • Apply for Canadian Work Permit online directly to IRCC through their official portal.

There is a chance of getting the Work Permit in just 14 days, if you have a job offer for the TEER 0 or TEER 1 position. These job positions are eligible for faster work permit processing if applying from outside Canada.

The process time to get the Work permit under Innovation Stream pilot for the TEER 3 and 4 positions is not specified by IRCC but could take longer.

What You Need To Apply?

Before applying for your work permit under Innovation Stream Pilot, your employer must pay a fee of CAD 230 to IRCC and submit your job offer.

You will need,

  • a job offer
  • employer’s number
  • pay the work permit application fee – CAD 155

How To Apply?

First step is to get a job offer from an approved Global Hypergrowth Project Employer. Visit the websites of all the eligible companies and find the right job for you. Links for websites of the eligible employers are given below.

Apply for the desired job position with proper Canadian format Resume/CV and a Cover Letter.

Get the Sample Format of CV / Cover Letter HERE

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