Express Entry

Federal Skilled Worker Program

The Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program is Canada’s flagship immigration program for foreign workers who are selected to immigrate to Canada because of their work experience and skills.

A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, knowledge, and ability in their work. Your skilled work experience must be paid work including paid wages or earned commission. Volunteer work or unpaid internship are not counted. For part time work, you can work more or less than 15 hours/week as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours in a year. You can work more than 1 part-time job to get the hours you need to apply.

To be able to qualify for Federal Skilled Worker program in Canada, you would need to:

  • Have skilled work experience in one of the National Occupation Classification job groups:
    • Managerial Jobs (Skill type 0)
    • Professional Jobs (Skill Level A)
    • Technical Jobs and skilled trades (skill Level B)
  • Take approved language test in English or French and score a minimum of CLB 7 in English or NCLC 7 in French
  • Have a certificate, diploma or degree from a Canadian Secondary institution (high school) or post-secondary institution. Foreign education must have a completed credential and an ECA (Educational Credentials Assessment) report from a designated organization showing the Canadian equivalency of your education credentials.
    Minimum education required is High School.
  • Be admissible in Canada, and
  • Show that you have enough funds to support yourself and your family to settle in Canada unless you are currently able to legally work in Canada or have a valid job offer from an employer in Canada.

Other Factors:

Age- To secure CRS points a candidate must have attained a minimum age of 18 years. The applicants are allotted points only until the age of 45 years. Post 45 years, 0 points are allotted towards age factor.

Maximum points for age:

An Express Entry applicant gets maximum points for the age between 20 years to 29 years. After 29th birthday, 5 CRS points are reduced every year.

IRCC uses selection factor points to assess a worker’s eligibility for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. The six selection factors are as below:

Sr. No. Eligibility Factor Maximum Points Documents Required
1 Work Experience 15 Employment- Pay stubs, reference letters, work experience letters.
Self-Employed- Bank statement, reference letters from clients etc.
2 Age 12 Official Birth certificate
3 Education 25 ECA report for the education completed in foreign country
(valid for a period of 5 years)
4 Language Proficiency
(both language) 		28 Language proficiency test results
(valid for a period of 2 years)
5 Adaptability 10 Canadian Education degree and transcript from the University
6 Arranged Employment in Canada 10 Job Offer letter supported by positive LMIA approval
Total 100 Minimum qualifying score to be eligible is 67 points

If you have scored 67 points or higher, you may qualify for the FSW Program.

Upon creation of Express Entry profile, the applicant enters the Express Entry pool. The applicant gains Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points which are based on factors like age, education, language proficiency, work experience, adaptability etc.

Process Flow:

Language ability Test Score and ECA report

Express Entry Profile
(valid for 1 year)

Improve CRS score
(if required)

Receive Invitation to apply

PR application submission

Upon receiving the Invitation to Apply (ITA), you will be required to submit the PR application within 60 days. In addition to the PR application forms, you will be required to submit the following documents:

  • Police clearance certificate- from any country where you have lived for more than 6 months after attaining the age of 18 years. This applies to all dependent family members accompanying to Canada
  • Medical Certificate- Issued by a panel physician
  • Biometrics- fingerprints and photo. Find out if you need to give biometrics
  • Photo guidelines
  • Supporting documents like paystubs, bank statement, reference letters, work experience letters, passport copies, marriage certificate, birth certificate etc

Due to the volume of documentation required, the PR application submission could become quite overwhelming. Harmony Immigration has the expertise and tools to simplify the whole process for you and your family. We have an experienced team that will guide you through every step of the process and software that will allow you to submit all required documents and fill all forms online.

The assigned Registered Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) to your case will ensure that your application is complete in every aspect.

Contact us today for a free initial consultation.