A Guide to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (Part 1)

The Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Program is one of the ways to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry. This program is for skilled workers with foreign work experience who want to immigrate to Canada permanently. In order to be eligible for this program you have to meet the minimum requirements.

The FSW minimum requirements are:

• skilled work experience
• language ability
• education

Skilled Work Experience Required

The Canadian government defines skilled work experience as the following:

• Managerial jobs such as:
  • restaurant managers
  • mine managers
  • shore captains (fishing)
• Professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university, such as:
  • doctors
  • dentists
  • architects
• Technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice, such as:
  • chefs
  • plumbers
  • electricians

Your work experience must be:

• in the same type of job as the job you want to use for your immigration application
• within the last 10 years
• paid work (This means you must have been paid wages or earned commission. Volunteer work or unpaid internships don’t count.)
• at least 1 year of continuous work or 1,560 hours total (30 hours per week). You can meet this in a few different ways:
  • full-time at 1 job: 30 hours/week for 12 months = 1 year full time (1,560 hours)
  • equal amount in part-time: 15 hours/week for 24 months = 1 year full time (1,560 hours)
  • full-time at more than 1 job: 30 hours/week for 12 months at more than 1 job = 1 year full time (1,560 hours)

For part-time work, you can work more or less than 15 hours/week as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours. However, the Government of Canada does not count any hours you work above 30 hours/week.

If you think you might meet the requirements, determine your eligibility and score in our free immigration portal here or read our next post on the language requirements for the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

And for more information about the Federal Skilled Worker Program, read further here.