For new VanHack Growth network partners, the strongest Global Talent Stream application starts before the forms are submitted. This guide explains how to set up the right employer accounts, organize the requested documents, and prepare for the responsibilities that may continue after a worker begins employment.
Canada’s Global Talent Stream can help eligible Canadian employers access highly skilled international talent. It is part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and uses a Labour Market Impact Assessment, commonly called an LMIA. It is not itself a visa. If an employer receives a positive LMIA, the selected worker must still apply for the appropriate work permit.
As a new VanHack Growth network partner, you will work with the immigration team through a coordinated process. Your role is to create the required employer access, provide complete information about the company and position, and upload accurate supporting documents. The immigration team will guide the application and coordinate the worker’s part of the process.
Before you begin: confirm the right Global Talent Stream pathway
The Government of Canada describes two Global Talent Stream pathways:
- Category A is for eligible innovative Canadian companies referred by a designated referral partner that need unique and specialized talent.
- Category B is for employers hiring for an occupation included on the current Global Talent Occupations List.
Eligibility depends on the employer, the role, the worker, the offered wage, and the program rules in effect when the application is submitted. Before building the file, confirm the intended category and any provincial requirements with the immigration professional supporting your case.
Plan for the government cost as well. The current LMIA processing fee is CAD $1,000 for each position requested. The fee cannot be paid by or recovered from the temporary foreign worker, and it is generally not refunded if the employer withdraws the application or receives a negative decision.
Official starting point: Hire a temporary foreign worker through the Global Talent Stream.
Step 1: create your Job Bank for Employers account
Start by creating an individual employer user account through Job Bank for Employers. The account should belong to an authorized person at your company.
The official Job Bank process currently asks the user to:
- Select Sign up now and review the information required for registration.
- Accept the Privacy Statement and Terms of Use.
- Enter an email address, preferred language, and password.
- Confirm the email address using the code sent by Job Bank.
- Create five security questions and answers.
- Complete the requested personal information and finish registration.
Keep the security answers private and record their exact spelling and capitalization in your company’s approved password-management system. Job Bank may use these questions to verify the account holder during future sign-ins or support calls.
Official instructions: How to create an employer user account.
Step 2: register your company in Job Bank
Once the individual account is active, register the employer using the company’s correct legal information. Use the legal business name, Canada Revenue Agency details, business address, and authorized contact information exactly as they appear in official records.
Before starting, have the following information ready:
- legal and operating business names
- Canada Revenue Agency business and payroll account details
- business address and contact information
- the name and position of the authorized company representative
Follow Job Bank’s current employer registration instructions. Avoid abbreviations or informal company names that conflict with tax or licensing documents, since inconsistencies can create unnecessary follow-up.
Step 3: grant access to the immigration representative
After the employer profile is created, add the immigration professional identified in your VanHack Growth onboarding message as a user on the account. Use the access details supplied directly by the immigration team, including the representative’s current company, email address, and professional registration number.
Unless your immigration team instructs you differently, the onboarding request may identify the access as:
- Access: User
- Access type: Third party or consultant
Do not share the primary account password or security-question answers. Adding a named user creates cleaner access control and helps preserve an appropriate record of who can work on the file.
Step 4: complete the employer file in Visto
Visto is the immigration platform used in this onboarding process. You should receive an email invitation to create your account. If it does not arrive, check spam and ask your VanHack Growth contact to confirm the email address used for the invitation.
Draft the role
In Roles, create the position the company needs to fill. Provide information that matches the real job offer, including the title, responsibilities, required experience, work location, employment conditions, and compensation. Keep the role description consistent across Visto, the employment agreement, recruitment materials, and the eventual LMIA application.
Complete the intake form
In Overview, complete the intake form with accurate company and hiring information. If a question is unclear, ask the immigration team before guessing. A complete intake reduces back-and-forth and gives the representative the information needed to prepare the employer portion of the application.
Upload supporting documents
In Overview, open Support documents and upload the requested files. Use current, readable documents and descriptive filenames. If a required item is difficult to obtain, flag it early so the immigration professional can advise whether another document may be acceptable.
Step 5: prepare the LMIA supporting documents
The onboarding checklist identifies three core items to prepare:
- Business licence: provide the most recent licence that applies to the business.
- Corporate tax schedules: prepare the requested T2 Schedule 100 and Schedule 125 documents.
- Business legitimacy attestation: obtain the attestation requested by the immigration team from an appropriate professional or institution.
The exact evidence required can vary. The Government of Canada’s current Global Talent Stream checklist refers more broadly to recent business licences, Canada Revenue Agency tax documents, recruitment or advertising records, Category A referral forms where applicable, and relevant provincial requirements.
Canada also provides a sample business legitimacy attestation. The current sample is framed as an optional attestation from an authorized official at a federally or provincially regulated financial institution. Because your onboarding instructions may request an attestation from a CPA, lawyer, or another professional, confirm the acceptable signer and wording with the immigration representative before commissioning it.
Step 6: build a realistic Labour Market Benefits Plan
Employers hiring through the Global Talent Stream must develop a Labour Market Benefits Plan, or LMBP. This plan records employer-specific commitments intended to create lasting benefits for the Canadian labour market.
The required mandatory benefit depends on the pathway:
- Category A: the employer must commit to creating jobs for Canadians and permanent residents.
- Category B: the employer must commit to increasing skills and training investments for Canadians and permanent residents.
In addition to the applicable mandatory benefit, the employer must commit to at least two complementary benefits, with at least one activity for each benefit. A complementary benefit cannot duplicate the mandatory benefit. Possible categories include job creation, skills and training, knowledge transfer, improved company performance, and stronger workplace practices or policies.
Commitments should be concrete, measurable, and realistic. The supplied planning template illustrates activities such as an annual employee training budget, paid internships, hiring Canadians or permanent residents, lunch-and-learn sessions, mentorship, documented knowledge-transfer projects, or improved employee benefits. These are planning examples, not automatic requirements. The final commitments are developed with Employment and Social Development Canada and should reflect what the company can genuinely deliver.
For every proposed activity, define the target, start and end dates, and the evidence the company will retain. Evidence might include training records and budgets, internship or employment offers, session logs with dates and participants, published knowledge-transfer materials, tax schedules, or an employee benefits booklet.
Do not treat the LMBP as a one-time application document. The Government of Canada states that progress reviews are conducted annually to assess whether the employer is meeting its commitments. Before agreeing to a benefit or target, confirm that the company can:
- assign an internal owner
- track the required activity or outcome
- retain supporting evidence
- report progress when requested
The first progress review is generally scheduled approximately one year after the LMBP is signed. The review date does not shift simply because the company later adds positions or because the worker’s permit is issued on a different date. Employers remain accountable for agreed benefits even if the temporary foreign worker later becomes a Canadian permanent resident while working for the company.
Review the official Labour Market Benefits Plan requirements, paying particular attention to the progress-review section.
Step 7: prepare for employer compliance after hiring
LMBP progress reviews are separate from employer compliance under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Both matter.
After the worker begins employment, the company must continue to follow the conditions of the job offer, the LMIA decision letter and its annexes, and applicable federal, provincial, and territorial employment laws. Government inspections may review whether the worker is employed in the approved role, receives wages and working conditions that are substantially the same and no less favourable than those promised, and works in an abuse-free environment.
The Government of Canada states that employers may be inspected for up to six years after the temporary foreign worker begins work. Build a record-retention process from the start. Keep the final offer, employment contract, payroll and time records, proof of working conditions, relevant policies, and evidence supporting LMBP commitments organized and accessible.
Read the official employer compliance guidance with the people responsible for HR, payroll, and the worker’s management.
Your Global Talent Stream preparation checklist
- Create the authorized user’s Job Bank for Employers account.
- Register the company using its exact legal and CRA information.
- Add the approved immigration representative as a named third-party user.
- Activate the Visto account.
- Draft the role in Visto using terms consistent with the real job offer.
- Complete the employer intake form.
- Upload the business licence, requested tax schedules, and approved attestation.
- Gather any additional recruitment, referral, or provincial documents requested.
- Review every proposed LMBP commitment and decide how the company will track it.
- Assign internal owners for immigration coordination, HR, payroll, compliance, and record retention.
What happens next
Once the employer setup, role information, intake, and supporting documents are complete, notify your VanHack Growth and immigration contacts. The immigration team can then review the file, identify missing information, coordinate the application with the employee, and guide the next steps.
The process usually moves through four broad phases: document collection and preparation, the employer’s LMIA application, the employee’s work-permit application after a positive LMIA, and final approval and travel planning. Depending on the worker’s background and circumstances, immigration authorities may also require biometrics, a medical examination with an approved panel physician, police certificates, or passport submission through a visa application centre.
Timelines vary by case and should not be presented as guarantees. The Government of Canada currently states a service standard of 10 business days for Global Talent Stream LMIA applications and, for eligible highly skilled workers, two weeks for work-permit processing. Each standard is expected to be met 80% of the time and begins only when the applicable authority has received a complete application.
Preparation does not guarantee a positive LMIA or work permit. Decisions remain with the Government of Canada, and requirements can change. Use this article as an operational checklist, not legal advice, and follow the case-specific direction of the licensed immigration professional supporting your application.
Ready for review? Send your VanHack Growth contact confirmation that the Job Bank and Visto setup is complete, together with a list of any outstanding documents or questions.
