Under changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, federal skilled worker applications are assessed for eligibility according to the criteria listed below. Note: This does not apply to applicants intending to live in the province of Quebec.
These criteria affect you only if you applied on or after June 26, 2010. If your application was received before June 26, 2010, it will be processed according to the rules that were in effect at that time.
Is my application eligible for processing?
For your application to be eligible for processing, you must include the results of your official language proficiency test, and either:
have a valid offer of arranged employment, OR
be a skilled worker who has had one year of continuous full-time or equivalent part-time paid work experience in at least one of the following eligible occupations within the last ten years:
0631 Restaurant and Food Service Managers
0811 Primary Production Managers (Except Agriculture)
1122 Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management
1233 Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners
2121 Biologists and Related Scientists
2151 Architects
3111 Specialist Physicians
3112 General Practitioners and Family Physicians
3113 Dentists
3131 Pharmacists
3142 Physiotherapists
3152 Registered Nurses
3215 Medical Radiation Technologists
3222 Dental Hygienists & Dental Therapists
3233 Licensed Practical Nurses
4151 Psychologists
4152 Social Workers
6241 Chefs
6242 Cooks
7215 Contractors and Supervisors, Carpentry Trades
7216 Contractors and Supervisors, Mechanic Trades
7241 Electricians (Except Industrial & Power System)
7242 Industrial Electricians
7251 Plumbers
7265 Welders & Related Machine Operators
7312 Heavy-Duty Equipment Mechanics
7371 Crane Operators
7372 Drillers & Blasters - Surface Mining, Quarrying & Construction
8222 Supervisors, Oil and Gas Drilling and Service
NOTE: the occupations above are all Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) or Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (technical occupations and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification list.
If you are not sure if you should apply as a skilled worker, you can use the eligibility tool to get an idea of whether your application would be eligible for processing.
If you apply and do not meet the above criteria, you will be informed of this and your processing fee will be refunded. Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.
The federal skilled worker scheme is only one of many different ways to migrate to Canada. Before you decide on which scheme is best for you make sure you do your research or take professional advice from a qualified Canadian Immigration Adviser.
One of the main attractions for migrants seeking new opportunities abroad is that Canada has a liberal and generous settlement policy - in other words they make it easy for migrants to settle permanently and gain Canadian citizenship.
Unlike some countries where settlement can take as long as five years, e.g. the UK, or is not allowed at all, as in most of the Middle East, Canada allows many categories of skilled immigrant workers an opportunity to apply for Canadian permanent residency after just two years.
The authors of the software package, “My Immigration Consultant“, say that according to Immigration Canada data, every year, Canada plans to accept between 225,000 to 265,000 immigrants, to meet their economic goals.
Find out how you can migrate to Canada.
