Eligibility for the Federal Skilled Worker Program

Federal Skilled Worker Program

As you may know, many individuals may immigrate to Canada with their work experience, education, proficiency in English/French, age advantage, and so forth with Express Entry. There are many sub-programs under the Express Entry system. For example, you may immigrate to Canada with the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, or the Canadian Experience Class. Since there are so many programs under the Express Entry System, individuals often get confused about what each program does and what each program’s eligibility requirements are. In this blog, you will learn specifically about the eligibility requirements of the Federal Skilled Worker program.

What is the Federal Skilled Worker Program

The Federal Skilled Worker Program allows foreign individuals to immigrate to Canada based on their skilled work experience, language ability, and education. However, simply having skilled work experience, language ability, and education does not guarantee you will be invited to apply for permanent residency by the Canadian government. In order to be a successful candidate, you will need to have a decent score on the comprehensive ranking system. You will also be placed in a pool with other applicants, and you will need to compete with one another. The higher you ranking is, the more likely you will be invited to apply for your permanent residency in Canada.

What are the Minimum Requirements

Skilled work experience

The first step to examine whether or not you qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program is that to check your skilled work experience. Skilled work means you have worked in one of the following National Occupational Classification job groups:

• Skill Type 0 (managerial jobs)
• Skill Level A (professional jobs)
• Skill Level B (technical jobs and skilled trades)

The NOC has a lead statement that describes the essential duties and most of the main duties of each occupation. You need to prove you have performed the duties set out in the lead statement, while you are working in your occupation. You need to also make sure you have worked in the same type of job as the job you want to use for your immigration application within the last ten years. Please note, the job needs to be a paid work, and cannot be volunteer work or unpaid internships. Last but not least, your full-time job needs to be at least 1 year of continuous work or 1,560 hours total (30 hours per week). For part-time work, you can work more or less than 15 hours per week, as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours.

Language ability

Canada’s official languages are English and French. In order to live, work, and communicate in Canada, you need to demonstrate you proficient in English or French. To do so, you must take language tests that are approved by the Canadian government. The tests for English can be IELTS or CELPIP. The test for French can be TEF.

Education

If you completed secondary or post-secondary in Canada, you will need to provide your certificate, diploma or degree from a Canadian secondary or post-secondary school. If you completed your education in your home country or another foreign country, your foreign credential needs to be written in an Educational Credential Assessment report by an approved agency, showing that your education is equivalent to a Canadian credential.

Other requirements of the program

In order to protect Canadian citizens and permanent residents, the Canadian government is very strict when it comes to assessing foreigners’ admissibility. That being said, you must be admissible to Canada by meeting the conditions in Canada’s Immigration Law. Being admissible means you cannot have a serious financial problem, a serious health problem, or have criminal inadmissibility. You cannot misrepresent information on your applications or lie during your interview with an immigration officer, either.

Factors when an Officer is Reviewing Your Application

Once you have made sure you meet all the requirements, your application will assessed based on the following:

• Age

• Education

• Work experience

• Whether you have a valid job offer

• English and/or French language skills

• Adaptability (how well you will adapt to Canada in general and how likely you will be settled in Canada)

These factors will be assessed using a 100-point grid. In order to pass the assessment, you will need at least 67 points. If you score 67 or above, you will be placed in the Express Pool, and you will be ranked by the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS is a points-based system that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada uses to examine the applicant’s profile. Each applicant will be given a rank in the Express Entry pool, and the rank will be used to compete with applicants in the same pool. The major components of the CRS include:

• skills

• education

• language ability

• work experience

• other factors

In sum, you will be assessed twice, after having met the minimum requirements. The first assessment is six selection factors that are specifically designed for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. The second assessment is the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

Contact Akrami & Associates

The Federal Skilled Worker application may have many different requirements which may make this type of application confusing, or sometimes, overwhelming. Moreover, the application for Federal Skilled Worker can be difficult when you are doing it on your own. As a result, it is highly recommended that you seek out professional and experienced help before attempting to apply for Federal Skilled Worker. Akrami & Associates work and have experience with many different immigration issues. We have helped many of our clients to obtain their permanent residency with the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Please feel free to contact Akrami & Associates at 416-477-2545 for more information, or if you would like to book a consultation with an immigration professional for more advise.

With Akrami & Associates, there is always a way!