Immigration to Canada as a Skilled Worker

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Immigration to Canada as a Skilled Worker

Skilled workers for the purpose of immigration are those who have working experience in an occupation which requires skill, training, or education, and who meet other requirements which make them likely to be successful as a Canadian. Canada’s Skilled Worker immigration is based on a selection system, defined by the laws of the country, which allocates a certain number of points to applicants on a number of factors as described below.

Factor	Maximum Score
Age	10
Education credentials	25
Language proficiency in English or French	24
Work Experience in an occupation of a specific minimum skill level	21
Arranged Employment with a Canadian employer	10
Adaptability for relocation based on defined factors	10
Maximum total score	100
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When an application in the Skilled Worker program is submitted, a Canadian immigration official will evaluate that case on the basis of the documents presented in support of the application. At present, an applicant who is found to score 67 points or more in this system are considered to be eligible to immigrate to any destination in Canada other than the immigration to the province of Quebec (see below for more about this province). This 67 point requirement is subject to change, and has been modified by Canada’s immigration department in the past. Although those who score less than 67 points can still be found to successful, real life application of this provision is not common.

Canada’s immigration process can be lengthy. Applicants should budget between one and five years for successful conclusion of an application. These delays are based largely on the region in which the applicant lives. Some regions which have higher caseloads may be subject to much longer delays than other regions. By law, an application can only generally be submitted to the Canadian visa office which is responsible for an applicants region of residence or of citizenship.

Immigration to Quebec

The province of Quebec has a separate immigration system. This province maintains its own immigration selection criteria, its own immigration offices, and its own immigration officers. Quebec’s skilled worker program has a different selection system which is based on similar factors as Canada, but which does place more emphasis on an applicant’s French language abilities. Other important factors include the applicant’s working experience and education.

When someone applies for immigration to the province of Quebec, Quebec’s immigration authorities must issue an approval of the case. Without this Certificat d’acceptation du Québec, Canada’s immigration officials cannot issue a permanent resident visa. This highlights an important difference in the Quebec procedure: applicants must apply to both the Quebec and the federal immigration authorities to receive a permanent resident visa and must pay applicable fees to both sets of officials. When successful in the Quebec procedure, however, the federal immigration authorities will only evaluate medical and security issues, not their own selection factors.

Provincial Nominee Programs

At present, some of Canada’s provinces have enacted agreements with the Canadian immigration department to allow them to nominate their own candidates for approval. As with Quebec, nomination by a province is a separate application process and requires that the successful nomine then apply to the federal immigration authorities in their region in order to obtain a permanent resident visa. The nominee programs are not an entirely separate immigration system as with Quebec, however. They do not maintain immigration offices or officials abroad.

When you seek a Skilled Worker immigration assessment with RSS, we will assess your case in all of the available programs.