In order to apply for skilled immigration under the Federal Skilled Trades program, an applicant must meet a number of requirements. First, to be eligible for this program, an applicant must:
- Plan to live outside of Quebec
- Not be inadmissible to Canada
- Have completed at least two years of work experience in a skilled trade within five years of the date of application. Applicants will be considered to have completed this requirement if:
- They worked 30 hours per week in a trade over the course of two years
- They worked 15 hours a week in a trade over the course of four years
- Possess an offer for full-time employment for work that will take place over the course of at least a year OR possess a certificate of qualification in a skilled trade that has been issued by a provincial government.
Education Requirements for Federal Skilled Trades Program
There is no education requirement for the Federal Skilled Trades program. However, applicants will have a better chance of success if they possess:
- A Canadian high school or post-secondary diploma OR,
- A foreign high school or post-secondary diploma AND a report approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada proving that the foreign diploma is equivalent to a Canadian high school or post-secondary diploma.
Language Ability Requirements for Federal Skilled Trades Program
All applicants under this program must take a language test to prove that they possess sufficient language abilities to successfully establish themselves in Canada. Language tests evaluate an applicant’s abilities with regards to:
- Listening
- Speaking
- Reading
- Writing
In order to be eligible for the Federal Skilled Trade Program, an applicant must have taken a government-approved language test and obtained.
- At least a Canadian Language Benchmark level 5 for speaking and listening
- At least a Canadian Language Benchmark level 4 for reading and writing
All applicants must include their language test results in their Express Entry profile. Further, language test results can only be used in a permanent residence application if they are less than two years old.
Eligible Trades for the Federal Skilled Trades Program
Applicants to the Federal Skilled Trades program must be able to show that their trade experience falls within one of the National Occupation Classification categories listed below.
- Industrial, Electrical and Construction Trades (Group 72)
- Maintenance and Equipment Operation Trades (Group 73)
- Supervisors and Technical Jobs in Natural Resources, Agriculture and Related Production (Group 82)
- Processing, Manufacturing and Utilities Supervisors and Central Control Operators (Group 92)
- Chefs and Cooks (Group 632)
- Butchers and Bakers (Group 633)
Note: Applicants may include their spouse or common-law partner in their applications. It is highly recommended that the member of the relationship who is most likely to meet the eligibility requirements mentioned above apply as the principal applicant. A common-law partner is any person who has lived with the applicant in a conjugal relationship for more than one year. Common-law relationships may consist of same-sex or opposite-sex partners.
