Canada Skilled Trades Permanent Residence
Canada
Residency
At a glance
Express Entry's Federal Skilled Trades route is for people with qualifying skilled-trade experience. It generally requires trade experience, language testing, either a qualifying job offer or Canadian trade certificate, and an invitation.
- Type
- Skilled-worker residence
- Job or skills fit
- Workers with at least two years of qualifying skilled-trade experience within the previous five years
- Core requirements
- Trade experience, language results, and either a qualifying job offer or Canadian trade certificate, followed by an invitation
- What to know
- Meeting minimum rules may not guarantee an invitation
- Duration
- Permanent residence from approval.
- Renewal / path
- Can support Canadian citizenship after physical-presence rules are met.
Summary
The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) is an Express Entry route to permanent residence for people qualified in specified skilled trades. It requires recent trade experience plus either a qualifying Canadian job offer or a Canadian certificate of qualification.
The program has no formal education minimum, but it is still competitive. Meeting the FSTP requirements places a candidate in the Express Entry pool; it does not guarantee an Invitation to Apply.
Eligibility
The principal applicant normally must meet all of these requirements:
- Eligible trade: all claimed qualifying experience is in the same NOC and falls in Major Groups 72 (except sub-major group 726), 73, 82, 83, 92 or 93 (except sub-major group 932), Minor Group 6320, or Unit Group 62200. The current NOC descriptions and IRCC list control.
- Experience: at least two years of full-time work, or 3,120 hours of equivalent part-time work, in that trade during the five years before applying. IRCC counts no more than 30 hours per week.
- Qualified where the work occurred: the person met the requirements to practice the trade independently in each country where the claimed experience was obtained. The work must have been paid, and work gained while studying does not count toward the minimum.
- Duties and job requirements: the person performed the NOC lead statement and most main duties and meets the NOC employment requirements for the trade, apart from needing a Canadian certificate of qualification where the job-offer option is used.
- Job offer or certificate: either a valid offer for at least one year of continuous, paid, full-time work in the trade, potentially from up to two employers, or a certificate of qualification issued by a Canadian provincial, territorial or federal authority.
- Language: valid approved-test results at CLB or NCLC 5 in speaking and listening and CLB or NCLC 4 in reading and writing.
- Funds: the current Express Entry settlement-funds requirement applies unless the applicant is legally able to work in Canada and has a valid Canadian job offer that meets IRCC's exemption.
- Place and admissibility: the applicant plans to live outside Quebec and is admissible to Canada.
A foreign trade license or Red Seal-equivalent experience is useful evidence but is not automatically a Canadian certificate of qualification. The responsible Canadian authority decides whether to assess training, require local experience, permit an exam and issue the certificate.
There is no education requirement for FSTP eligibility. Education can still add CRS points if supported by an eligible Canadian credential or an immigration-purpose Educational Credential Assessment.
What This Route Allows
After an Invitation to Apply and federal approval, this route grants Canadian permanent residence. Eligible accompanying family members can be included, subject to their documents and admissibility.
A nomination from a province or territory may also add 600 CRS points if the person qualifies for an Express Entry-linked provincial stream. That nomination is separate from the trade certificate and from FSTP eligibility.
What This Route Is Not
FSTP is not a Canadian trade license, apprenticeship placement or work permit. The immigration program does not authorize a person to practice a regulated trade or work in Canada while the permanent-residence file is pending.
A job offer remains one way to meet the FSTP minimum requirements, but since March 25, 2025, IRCC no longer gives ordinary CRS points merely for a job offer. The offer must still meet the detailed FSTP validity rules.
Being in a trade does not automatically make a candidate eligible for a trades category-based invitation round. Express Entry category lists and round instructions are separate and can change.
Next Steps
- Identify the NOC from the actual trade duties and confirm it is in an FSTP group. Review the NOC employment requirements for every country where experience is claimed.
- Count at least 3,120 qualifying hours within five years, respecting IRCC's weekly cap and excluding student, unpaid or unqualified work.
- Choose the job-offer or certificate path. For certification, contact the provincial, territorial or federal trade authority early; assessment and examination requirements differ.
- If using a job offer, verify its duration, hours, continuity, employers and LMIA or LMIA-exempt basis against IRCC's current definition.
- Take an approved language test and meet the separate speaking/listening and reading/writing minimums.
- Check the current settlement-funds table and obtain acceptable bank evidence unless the IRCC exemption clearly applies.
- Create an Express Entry profile and calculate the CRS score. Add education, a provincial nomination or other supported factors accurately where applicable.
- If invited, submit a complete permanent-residence application within the invitation deadline and provide trade experience, job-offer or certificate, language, funds and admissibility documents.
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Sources
- IRCC — Federal Skilled Trades Program — current eligible NOC groups, experience, certification and other minimums.
- IRCC — Valid Express Entry job offers — FSTP offer requirements and the removal of ordinary job-offer CRS points.
- IRCC — Express Entry language requirements — approved tests and FSTP minimum scores.
- IRCC — Proof of funds — current family-size amounts, acceptable evidence and exemption.
- Government of Canada — National Occupational Classification — official NOC duties, groups and TEER descriptions.