Minimum Requirements

Foreign nationals who are interested to come to Canada and settle here permanently under the Federal Skilled Trades class can build their profile in the express entry system. For this, the applicant must be eligible. The following are the minimum criteria to apply under the EE in this class. 

Education 

Education is not a requirement for the federal trades program but this helps improving your CRS score and elevates your chances of getting selected. The education may either be from the Canadian institute or from abroad. The international education must have a credential evaluation assessment done by the accredited bodies. You will get points for the diploma, degrees or certificates from the recognized institutions. 

Language Requirements 

The applicant must meet the minimum score of Canadian Language Benchmark 5 for speaking and listening, and Canadian Language Benchmark 4 for reading and writing from the approved language testing organizations. 

Work Experience 

The work experience must be in the NOC B of the National Occupation Classifications with the major NOC codes starting from 72, 73, 82, 92 or minor NOC codes starting from 632, 633. 

Must have experience in the specified NOC codes for 2 years full time or equivalent part time in the past five years in the skilled trades category

Meets the job requirements for the skilled trades as stated in the National Occupation Classification system. 

Have a job offer that will be a paid, continuous and full- time by Canadian companies or employers for at least one year 

OR 

Have a certificate of qualification in that trades from the provincial or territorial bodies. 

The FST is also managed by Express Entry system. This means that in order to begin the process of immigrating to Canada as a tradesperson, you must first create an online Express Entry profile and obtain a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. The CRS determines your ranking in the Express Entry pool based on factors like skills, work experience, language ability, education and others.  Usually the FST CRS scores are lower than the other candidates in the Express Entry pool because of the exemptions in educational requirements. Sometimes, IRCC conducts the program specific draws where candidates with substantially lower points will get selected.