Skilled workers are selected as permanent residents based on their education, work experience, knowledge of English and/or French, and other criteria that have been shown to help them become economically established in Canada.

Note: The province of Quebec is responsible for selecting its own skilled workers.

Eligibility:

Federal skilled worker applications are assessed for eligibility according to the criteria set out below.

For your application to be eligible for processing, you must:

• Include the results of your official language proficiency test, AND
• Have a valid offer of arranged employment, OR
• Have one year of continuous full-time paid work experience in at least one of the occupations listed here.

Work experience requirements:

Your work experience must be:

• For at least one year, continuous, and paid (full-time or the equivalent in part-time), AND
• Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) or Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (technical occupations and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC) list, AND
• Within the last 10 years.

If you meet the above minimum requirements, your application will be processed according to the six selection factors in the skilled worker points grid, which are:

• Your education
• Your abilities in English and/or French, Canada’s two official languages
• Your work experience
• Your age
• Whether you have arranged employment in Canada, and
• Your adaptability.

You must also show that you have enough money to support yourself and your dependants after you arrive in Canada.

Note: If you are applying under one of the 29 eligible occupations, as of June 26, 2010, a maximum of 20,000 Federal Skilled Worker applications will be considered for processing in the following 12 months. Within the 20,000 cap, a maximum of 1,000 Federal Skilled Worker applications per eligible occupation will be considered for processing each year.

These limits do not apply to applications with an offer of arranged employment.

Arranged employment:

If you have an offer of permanent employment from a Canadian employer, it can improve your chances of having your federal skilled worker application approved.

Depending on your circumstances, the requirements for a valid offer of employment are different.

1) If you are currently working in Canada:

• Your current employer must have made an offer to give you a permanent job if you are accepted as a federal skilled worker, and
• Your temporary work permit must be valid both when you apply for a permanent resident visa and when the visa is issued.

In addition:

• Your work permit must have been confirmed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) through a positive labour market opinion or
• You must be in a category that is exempt from an Arranged Employment Opinion

in order for your offer of employment to be valid.

2) In all other cases:

You must not be working in Canada and you either

• Do not have a valid work permit or
• You have a work permit, but your circumstances are different from those described in the first example.

In this case, the offer of employment is valid if your prospective employer

• Has made an offer to hire you on an indeterminate basis if you are accepted as a federal skilled worker, and
• Has obtained a positive Arranged Employment Opinion from HRSDC

and you

• Meet all required Canadian licensing or regulatory standards associated with the job.

Note: You cannot arrange for an HRSDC confirmation of a job offer. Your employer must do this.