Federal Skilled Trades
The Federal Skilled Trades Program allows individuals with a valid job offer or a certificate of qualification to obtain permanent residence in any Canadian province or territory other than Quebec.
Minimum Eligibility Criteria
- Have valid job offers of continuous, paid, full-time employment (at least 30 hours a week) from up to two employers in Canada for at least one year OR a certificate of qualification* from a provincial or territorial body;
- Provide proof of basic language proficiency from a designated language testing organization, demonstrating that the applicant meets the minimum threshold set by the Minister — Canadian Level Benchmark (CLB) 5 for speaking and listening, CLB 4 for reading and writing;
- Have obtained 2 years of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work) in the skilled trade in the five years before applying; and
- Be able to demonstrate the skills and experience and that they have performed the essential duties of the occupation.
The FSTC is one of three federal economic programs managed by the Government of Canada’s Express Entry system. This means that in order to begin the process of immigrating to Canada as a tradesperson, you must first create an online Express Entry profile and obtain a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. The CRS determines your ranking in the Express Entry pool based on factors like skills, work experience, language ability, education and others.