Canadian Experience Class

The Canadian Experience class is for skilled workers who have significant Canadian work experience and wish to become permanent residents.

The CEC is a separate permanent residency category for workers with skilled work experience in Canada. It has been well developed to qualify Canada’s high standard for temporary foreign workers with work experience and graduate workers.

REQUIREMENTS

One must

1. Meet the required language levels needed for your job for each language ability

• writing, reading, listening & speaking

2. Have at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada, in the last 3 years before you apply:

• • full-time, or
  • an equal amount in part-time

3. Have gained work experience by working in Canada while under temporary resident status with authorization to work.

You’re not eligible for the Canadian Experience Class if

• you’re a refugee in Canada
• you’re working without authorization
• your work experience was gained without temporary resident status in Canada

According to the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC), skilled work is classified as given below:

• managerial jobs (skill level 0)
• professional jobs (skill type A)
• technical jobs and skilled trades (skill type B)

Your own work experience can also be in one or more NOC 0, or B jobs.

You must show that you have performed the duties specified in the main description for the occupational description in the NOC.

• Self-employment And Student Work Experience

Self-employment and work experience you gained while you were a full-time student does not count toward the minimum requirements for this program.

EDUCATION

There are no education requirements for the Canada Experience class.

If you want to improve your rank in the Express Entry pool for immigration purposes, there are 2 ways.

• If you went to school in Canada, you can get points for a certificate, diploma, or degree from a Canadian:
  
  • secondary institution or
  • post-secondary institution

OR

• If you have a foreign education:
  
  • a completed foreign credential
  • an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report for immigration purposes from a designated organization showing that your education is equal to a Canadian-level qualification.

LANGUAGE ABILITY

You must:

• meet the minimum language level of:
  
  • Canadian Language Benchmark 7 for NOC 0 or A jobs or
  • Canadian Language Benchmark 5 for NOC B jobs
• take approved language tests for:
  
  • writing
  • reading
  • listening
  • speaking
• describe the test results in your Express Entry profile

Your language test is only valid for 2 years after the date of your test result and must be valid on the date you apply for permanent residence.