Federal Skilled Trades
The Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program is an economic immigration pathway for foreign skilled trade workers. It’s considered as a faster route for immigration to Canada, because FST program helps to add productivity to the Canadian economy. Successful tradespeople applying through the Federal Skilled Trades Program are able to obtain Canadian permanent residence within six (6) months.
The FST program is one of the one of the three federal immigration programs managed by the Express Entry system. It uses the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to rank interested candidates against one another, candidates with the highest CRS score will receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian permanent residence
Candidates applying for FST program don’t have prove their level of education.But this can make them to have lower CRS score, in order to earn points for education under Express Entry, a candidate either needs:
- a certificate, diploma or academic credential from a Canadian educational institution; or
- an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) proving that your education is equal to a completed certificate, diploma or degree from a Canadian secondary or post-secondary institution
Federal Skilled Trades (FST) Program Eligibility Requirements
In order to be eligible for FST, you must:
- have obtained at least 2 years of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) within the past 5 years before you apply
- have a certificate of in your skilled trades issued by a provincial or territorial authority in Canada, or have an valid offer of full-time employment from up to two employers in Canada for at least a year
- have a minimum Canadian Language Benchmark level 4 score for in English or French proficiency test
- intend to live outside of the province of Quebec. The province of Quebec has its own skilled immigration program. Please visit Quebec Skilled Worker Program
- meet the job requirements for that skilled trade as set out in the National Occupational Classification.
Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) Code considers the following as the occupations as skilled trades:
- Major Group 72: industrial, electrical and construction trades,
- Major Group 73: maintenance and equipment operation trades,
- Major Group 82: supervisors and technical jobs in natural resources, agriculture and related production,
- Major Group 92: processing, manufacturing and utilities supervisors and central control operators,
- Minor Group 632: chefs and cooks, and
- Minor Group 633: butchers and bakers.
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There is no education requirement for FST program. However to earn more points in the Express Entry pool, an applicant can use his educational credentials.
A certificate of qualification proves a candidate is qualified to work in a skilled trade occupation in Canada.