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The Federal Skilled Trade (FST) program is one of the three programs within Canada’s Express Entry system for processing permanent residency applications. All programs within Express Entry are competitive and use the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to rank candidates. Based on their credentials, applicants are awarded CRS points.
The processing time for the FSW stream is 6 months.
To be eligible to apply, you must meet the program requirements:
plan to live outside the province of Quebec
meet the required levels in English or French for each language ability (speaking, reading, writing, and listening),
CLB 5 for speaking and listening, CLB 4 for reading and writing.
have at least two years of full-time work experience** (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in a skilled trade within the five years before you apply,
meet all job requirements for that skilled trade as set out in the National Occupational Classification (NOC), and
have an offer of full-time employment for a total period of at least one year
accompanied by an LMIA
or a certificate of qualification in that skilled trade issued by a provincial or territorial body
Full-time work** means at least 30 hours of work over a period of one week, or an equal amount in part-time, paid work experience. For example:
if you worked 15 hours per week in one job over four years, or
if you worked a total of 30 combined hours per week in more than one job over two years.
Once you receive the Invitation to Apply, applicants and the accompanying dependants must also undergo medical examinations and obtain security clearances as part of application process.
In Canada, only provinces and territories can issue certificates of qualification in the skilled trades. To get this certificate, the provincial or territorial trades authority must assess your training, trade experience and skills to decide if you are eligible to write an exam to be certified.
Further, in order to qualify, your occupation must be on the most recent list of eligible occupations:
In an attempt to avoid backlogs and ensure fast processing times, CIC will accept no more than 3,000 complete federal skilled trade applications for processing each year.
Within the 3,000 cap, no more than 100 new applications for certain jobs will be considered for processing each year. There is no sub-cap for other skilled trades.