The Canadian Experience Class is a pathway to permanent residents for persons who have Canadian skilled work experience.

For Canadian Experience Class you must at minimum

• meet the required language levels needed for your job in writing, reading, listening and speaking

• have at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada, in the last 3 years before you apply. This could be full-time at 1 or more jobs, or equal amount in part-time work. Work hours are calculated at a maximum of 30 hours per week,

• have gained your work experience by working in Canada while under temporary resident status with authorization to work

If you are a Skilled Trades Worker, the Federal Skilled Trades Program might be your pathway to becoming a permanent resident.

For the Federal Skilled Trade Program you must at minimum

• meet the required language levels needed for your job in writing, reading, listening and speaking

• have at least 2 years of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in a skilled trade within the 5 years before you apply

o your work experience must be for paid work (paid wages or earned commission—volunteer work or unpaid internships don’t count)

• meet the job requirements for that skilled trade as set out in the National Occupational Classification, except for needing a certificate of qualification

• have a

o valid job offer of full-time employment for a total period of at least 1 year or

o certificate of qualification in that skilled trade issued by a Canadian provincial, territorial or federal authority

This program has minimum requirements for:

• skilled work experience

• language ability - get a minimum score of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 in all 4 abilities

• qualifying Canadian or evaluated foreign education

Skilled work experience

Your skilled work experience must be paid work in the same type of job as the job you want to use for your immigration application. It also should be at least 1 year of continuous work or 1,560 hours total within the last 10 years. Skilled work experience means that you’ve worked in one of the following occupations:

• Management occupations

• Occupations that usually require a university degree

• Occupations that usually require a college diploma apprenticeship training of 2 or more years, or supervisory occupations

• Occupations that usually require a college diploma, apprenticeship training of less than 2 years, or more than 6 months of on-the-job training