Canada Federal Skilled Workers Program

The purpose of Express Entry Program was to attract highly skilled labor into Canada. This program offers four of the following programs:

Federal Skilled Worker Program
Federal Skilled Trades Program
Canadian Experience Program
Provincial Nominee Program (only uses the platform, but has different rules)

This article will talk about the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).

What do you need to know about the Federal Skilled Worker Program?

You can obtain a permanent residence in Canada if you are a skilled worker or a federal skilled worker. This program was created by the Canadian Government to make up for the lack of workforce in different trades. If your visa is approved, you can also apply for Canadian citizenship after a few years.

One of the many reasons why people from other countries want to live in Canada is the endless employment opportunities and rapidly growing and economy. That’s why the country receives thousands of applications every year.

For this program in specific, the government looks for the most qualified and experienced people. However, the people who apply for this program must meet the strict criteria and get the necessary points. Also, it is essential to have a job offer, so that your chances of being accepted as permanent residence can be increased. The process usually takes from 6 months to 1 year to be completed.

Requirements

To apply for this program, you need to fulfill specific criteria such as:

Enough points
Proof of funds
Admissibility

The points

This part is the most important one. Once you decide to apply for this program, you have to meet some documents, which will serve as a backup of your abilities.

The skills you have will help you add points which define your success.The more points you have, the more chances of your application being approved.

In order to find out how much you have scored, you must take an eligibility test on the Government of Canada website. This is the first step. If you have at least 67 points or more, they will give you a code that you need to register and upload all the documents.

What can you expect in this test?

You will need to answers questions about:

Your age
Nationality
Education
Work experience
Language skills and so on

The following tables show the criteria and the points for each so you can calculate them. One of the most important criteria is the Language skills. Remember that you are going to live in a country where the English and French are the most common spoken languages, so you need to know how to speak, read, listen and write at least one of these languages.

That’s why you must take and approve language test for English (CELPIP or IELTS) or French (TEF Canada or TCF Canada).

First official language	Speaking	Listening	Listening	Writing
CLB level 9 or higher	6	6	6	6
CLB level 8	5	5	5	5
CLB level 7	4	4	4	4
Below CLB level 7	Not eligible	Not eligible	Not eligible	Not eligible

If you have language skills in the second official language of Canada, you can also get an additional 4 points.

Second official language	Points
At least CLB 5 in all of the 4 abilities	4
CLB 4 or less in any of the 4 abilities	0

Education

For Federal Skilled Workers Program, you must complete high school studies at an academic institution outside of Canada. It is important that you understand the more diplomas you have, the higher your score will be. If you have a foreign diploma, then you must convert it to a Canadian degree through an Educational Credential Assessment report from an approved agency.

The points range is:

21 for a Bachelor Degree
25 points for a Doctoral
23 for a Master’s Degree and so on

Check the full list of degrees and their corresponding points, visit the Education Factor Points for FSWP.

Work experience

It is also necessary that you have experience in either full-time or part-time jobs. To determine the type of job that you have, you must find the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code. Once you do that, you would be able to compare the years of experience and get the corresponding points.

Experience	Maximum 15 points
1 year	9
2 – 3 years	11
4 – 5 years	13
6 or more years	15

Age

You also get points depending on your age:

Under 18	0
18 – 35	12
36	11
37	10
38	9
39	8
40	7
41	6
42	5
43	4
44	3
45	2
46	1
47 and older	0

What happens if you already have a job offer in Canada?

This can also help improve your score; however, there are some criteria that you must meet:

The job offer must be for at least 1 year
It must not be seasonal
The work must be continuous, paid, and full-time
Must be in a skill level 0, A, or B

But, to get the points, you must fulfil the following requirements:

You must have a valid work permit. This should be based on a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) in a job that belongs to a skill level 0, A, or B.
If you are currently working in Canada, and your work is LMIA-exempt. The work permit must be valid, and it must reflect that you have been working in the company for a consecutive year, and the employer has made a job offer for when you become a permanent resident.
If you do not have a work permit, but your employer has a LMIA, and this has made you an offer of work so that you can apply for permanent residence.
You have a work permit for Canada, and your employer or company is LMIA exempt, but; you have a job offer from a different employer who has a LMIA to start working when you become a permanent resident.

Adaptability

You can also earn points for various factors that determine how you will adapt to life in Canada.

Adaptability	Max. 10 points
Your spouse or common-law partner has an English or French language proficiency of CLB 4 or higher in speaking, listening, reading, or writing.	5
You have completed at least 2 years of full-time study at a secondary or post-secondary school in Canada	5
Your spouse or common-law partner has completed at least 2 years of full-time study at a secondary or post-secondary school in Canada	5
You worked for at least 1 year full-time in Canada with a valid work permit in a job with skill type level 0, A, or B	10
Your spouse or common-law partner had worked in Canada for at least 1 year as a full-time employee with a valid work permit	5
You have found a job in Canada	5
You or your spouse/common-law partner have relatives who are living in Canada and are over 18 years old and have Canadian citizenship or permanent resident. The relative can be a: Parent Grandparent Grandchild Child You or your spouse’s sibling You or your spouse’s aunt or uncle You or your spouse’s niece or nephew	5

Proof of funds: I can cover my stay in Canada for 3 to 6 months

Also, you can add more points if you can prove that you have enough funds to cover your stay in Canada for at least 3 to 6 months.

But you need to provide all the necessary documentation as bank account statements to prove it.

Admissibility

Besides, before you deemed eligible to apply for a permanent residence in Canada, you should not have a criminal record nor should you pose a risk to Canada’s national security and that you must be a healthy individual.

Applying for the Canada Federal Skilled Worker Program

Once you have been chosen to apply for The Federal Skilled Worker Program, the next thing you must do is to fill out your application.

With the code that the page of the Government of Canada gave you, you can open a profile to fill in all the spaces with the information that you are asked. In addition, before you compile your profile, you must have the supporting documents ready.

These documents are:

A valid passport
Language test results
Education Credential Assessment Report
Job offer letter from an employer in Canada (if you have one);
Police certificates to prove you have a clean criminal record;
Medical examination
Proof that you have enough funds to cover your stay in Canada if you are invited to apply

The whole process takes from 6 months to 1 year, and you have to undertake the following actions:

Submit your profile

After you have placed all the necessary information in your profile, and you have also submitted the supporting documents, you have up to 60 days to send your profile, or else, you must start the whole process again. Once you have submitted your profile, you must wait for the regulatory time to know if you were accepted or not.

While you wait, you can make changes to your profile to increase your score. If you are invited by the Government of Canada, you should also fill out your profile and send the documents. You can reject the invitation, but if you want to apply later, you must do all the steps. In case you have accepted the invitation, the Government of Canada will send you the forms you must submit to apply for permanent residence.

Paying the fees

In the following table we show you the fees you must pay to be able to apply for permanent residence:

Type of fee	$CAN
Economic immigration application fee	1,040 (Includes processing fee of $550 and right of permanent residence fee of $490)
Economic immigration application fee (without right of permanent residence fee)	550
Application fee including a spouse or common-law partner	1,040 (Includes processing fee of $550 and right of permanent residence fee of $490)
Application fee including a spouse or common-law partner (without right of permanent residence fee)	550
Application fee including a dependent child – per child	150

You will have to wait for the legal time to know if your residence was approved.

In case it is not approved, the government of Canada will let you know why your application was rejected and what you can do to perform well next time. If the your application has been approved, then you can go to Canada whenever you want.