Find out more about Express Entry
Learn more about Express Entry and how it works.
Note: The province of Quebec chooses its own skilled workers. If you plan to live in Quebec, see Quebec-selected skilled workers to find out more.
Skilled Immigrants (Express Entry)
Information for Foreign Workers
Are you a skilled tradesperson who was trained outside of Canada? If you have the right experience and qualifications, you may be eligible to write the Red Seal examination. This page provides quick links to help you get your skills assessed, prepare for the Red Seal examination, and find key immigration websites. You can also use the top menu to find your way around the Red Seal website.
The Red Seal is the national standard of excellence for the skilled trades in Canada. It provides a competitive hiring advantage and mobility to work across Canada.
Get Your Qualification Assessed
The provinces and territories certify tradespersons and assess foreign qualifications. Contact the apprenticeship and certification authorities in the province or territory where you plan to live or work.
Read an overview of your trade and find other key information to help you get your Red Seal endorsement.
Find out what you need to know and be able to do to obtain a Red Seal endorsement in your trade. Everything is outlined in your trade’s National Occupational Analysis (NOA).
Register for Red Seal Examination
Register with the apprenticeship and certification authorities in the province or territory where you plan to live or work.
Examination and Language Workshop
When you register, ask about examination preparation workshops and English or French language training.
Study for your Red Seal Examination
Use these examination preparation tools:
Get Ready for your Red Seal Exam Sample QuestionsExam Counselling Sheets Essential SkillsDo you have the right level of essential skills needed for your Red Seal trade? Use these tools to develop essential skills like reading and math.
Visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website to find out how to immigrate and how to prepare for living and working in Canada.
Federal Skilled Trades Program
The Federal Skilled Trades Program helps workers with qualifications in certain high-demand trades immigrate to Canada.
If you have skills that are in high demand, a province or territory may be able to nominate you for settlement within their jurisdiction.
This section of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website provides tips on finding work in Canada. The Red Seal Program is not an employment agency and cannot help you with finding a job in Canada.
We use a grid of 100 points to assess how well an applicant will adapt to Canada’s labour market.
Federal Skilled Worker Program
To be eligible, federal skilled worker applicants must have:
• valid third-party language test results (that show they meet the minimum language threshold),
• educational credential assessments for any foreign educational credentials, and
• at least a year of full-time experience in a skilled field.
Also, they must:
• have an offer of arranged employment or
• have experience in a priority occupation or
• be taking (or be a recent graduate of) a Canadian PhD program.
**Note: As of May 1, 2014, there is an overall cap of 25,500 for new federal skilled worker applications. This includes a cap of 500 applications from PhD students. There are also sub-caps of 1,000 for each of the 50 eligible occupations. The caps do not affect people with a valid job offer. These are the last applications we will accept under the current system before Express Entry launches in January 2015
The grid looks at factors such as:
• education,
• work experience and
• English or French skills
Applicants must meet:
• the pass mark of 67 out of 100 points and
• admissibility requirements.
We review new applications within 12 months. We give priority to applicants with arranged employment. The foreign worker must apply for himself or herself. However, as an employer, you can greatly improve the chances of having an application approved by making a qualifying job offer in a skilled occupation.
Determine your eligibility - Federal Skilled Workers
Skilled workers are people who are chosen as permanent residents based on their ability to prosper in Canada.
We assess federal skilled worker (FSW) applications based on the factors set out below.
A) Basic eligibility
We will only process your FSW application if you have:
• at least one year of continuous and paid (full-time or an equal amount in part-time) work experience
o in a single occupation,
o within the last 10 years,
o at skill type 0, or skill levels A or B of the 2011 edition of the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC)
AND
1. You have this work experience in one of the eligible occupations, OR
2. You have a valid offer of arranged employment, OR
3. You are an international student who is enrolled in a PhD program in Canada (or who graduated from a Canadian PhD program within the past 12 months) and meet these criteria.
No matter what category above you apply to, you must meet ALL the minimum requirements below. B) Minimum requirements Work experience If your application is eligible to be processed, we will then assess it to see if your work experience, as described above, is valid.
Your work experience must be:
• at least one year (1560 hours), full-time or an equal amount in part-time,
• paid work (volunteer work, unpaid internships, etc. do not count),
• in the same occupation, and • within the last 10 years,
• at skill type 0, or skill levels A or B of the 2011 edition of the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC)
You must show that you did the duties set out in the lead statement of the occupational description in the NOC, including all the essential duties and most of the main duties listed. If you do not show that your experience meets the description in the NOC, we will refuse your application.
Language ability
You must meet minimum language levels and include the results of a language test from an agency approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) when you apply that shows you meet the minimum language requirement of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7.
Education You must have:
• a Canadian diploma, certificate, or credential
OR
• a foreign educational credential, and an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) by an agency approved by CIC to show it is equal to a completed Canadian secondary or post-secondary educational credential.
About the application cap
Due to the large number of applications we get, we can only consider a limited number of applications per year. As of May 1, 2014, there is an overall cap of 25,500 for new federal skilled worker applications. This includes a cap of 500 applications from PhD students. There are also sub-caps of 1,000 for each of the 50 eligible occupations. The caps do not affect people with a valid job offer. These are the last applications we will accept under the current system before Express Entry launches in January 2015.
C) Six selection factors
If you meet all the conditions set out in sections A and B above, we will process your application based on the six selection factors in the skilled worker points grid.
They are:
• your skills in English and/or French, Canada’s two official languages,
• your education,
• your work experience,
• your age,
• whether you have arranged employment in Canada, and
• your adaptability (how well you are likely to settle here).
To see how many points you might get, read about the selection factors If you are not sure if you should apply as a skilled worker, try the Come to Canada Wizard to get an idea if your application would be eligible to be processed.
D) Proof of funds
You must also show that you have enough money to support yourself and your family after you arrive in Canada.
E) In admissibility
Some people are inadmissible—they are not allowed to come to Canada. Several things can make you inadmissible, including being involved in:
• crime, or
• human rights violations.
You can also be inadmissible for:
• security,
• health,
• financial reasons, or
• other reasons. Find out more about inadmissibility.