What is the Skilled Trades Program?

The Federal Skilled Trades program is designed to help workers with technical skills to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry. These professions will most likely fall within the Skill type B, as we have seen previously. Therefore jobs that require technical or trades skills usually require a college education, specialized or apprenticeship training. So let’s take a closer look.

What are the requirements to apply?

The same concept of minimum requirements applies to this Express Entry program category. Therefore, applicants must meet the following minimum requirements to be eligible for permanent residence.

Language Proficiency

There are 2 benchmarks that applicants must meet to qualify. These benchmarks are the lowest of all the permanent residence categories of the Express Entry program.

• For speaking and listening: the benchmark is 5.
• For reading and writing: the benchmark is 4.

Skilled Trades Work Experience

You must have at least 2 years of full-time work experience (or an equivalent amount of part-time experience) in the 5 years that precede the date of application for permanent residence.

Skilled trades are organized under 4 major groups and 2 minor groups. For more information on the different groups and to see if your work experience qualifies, you can visit the National Occupation Classification website. The groups are as follows.

Employment that falls within these groups will qualify for your Express Entry score and your permanent residence application.

Major Group 72: this group includes industrial, electrical, and other construction trade;
Major Group 73: job relating to maintenance, machinery, and equipment operation trades;
Major Group 82: including professions such as supervisors and technical jobs in natural resources, agriculture, and other related production;
Major Group 92: processing, manufacturing, and utility supervisors and central control operators
Minor Group 632: for skilled chefs and cooks
Minor Group 633: including jobs such as butchers, meat cutters, and bakers.

One crucial factor that applicants have to consider is that to claim the work experience, you must have gained it after qualifying to practice the profession in your country of residence. So, for example, an electrician would have to demonstrate that they were qualified to practice this skilled trade.

Education

Just like the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades program does not have an education requirement. This means applicants from all educational backgrounds can apply as long as they meet the minimum eligibility requirements. Once again, you can still use your higher education credentials to rank higher in the Express Entry scoring system.

Do I need to have funds to resettle in Canada?

Just like the Federal Skilled Workers program, applicants applying for the Federal Skilled Trades program must have either:

• Arranged employment: an offer of employment from a Canadian employer at the time of application and that must still be valid at the time of visa issuance;
• Resettlement funds: They have sufficient funds to support themselves and their dependents in Canada for the first six months after they arrive.

The resettlement funds requirements are calculated based on the applicant’s family size and must be met before applying for permanent residence and must be maintained throughout the application process.

So, if you are a skilled professional in one of the groups of professionals covered above, this immigration program is right for you! You and your family can be on your way to a new life in Canada by applying for the Federal Skilled Trades program.

Let Phan Immigration accompany you on your journey to Canada. Use our self-assessment tool to see if you qualify.