CIC Announces Outstanding Details of the Federal Skilled Worker Program

Henry Chang | May 13, 2013 in Canadian Immigration | Comments (0)

Introduction

As previously reported, on December 19, 2012, Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney (the “Immigration Minister”) announced that the Federal Skilled Worker Program (“FSWP”) would once again begin accepting new applications on May 4, 2013.  However, several key details of the FSWP were not announced at that time.  These outstanding details included:

  • The cap on the number of applications that would be accepted without arranged employment in the first year;
  • The list of eligible occupations that would not require arranged employment (which in most cases would now mean a Labour Market Opinion); and
  • The organizations that would be designated to conduct educational assessments.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) has now provided these last remaining details.

Eligible Occupations and Numerical Limits

Applicants who do not have arranged employment and who do not qualify under the PhD stream will require at least one year of continuous full-time work experience in one of the listed eligible occupations.  Applicants who possess this work experience may apply without a job offer.

The eligible occupations stream will have an overall cap of 5,000 new applications and sub-caps of 300 applications in each of the 24 occupations on the list.  The list of eligible occupations, with each corresponding 2011 National Occupation Classification (“NOC”) code, is as follows:

  • 0211 Engineering managers
  • 1112 Financial and investment analysts
  • 2113 Geoscientists and oceanographers
  • 2131 Civil engineers
  • 2132 Mechanical engineers
  • 2134 Chemical engineers
  • 2143 Mining engineers
  • 2144 Geological engineers
  • 2145 Petroleum engineers
  • 2146 Aerospace engineers
  • 2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers/designers)
  • 2154 Land surveyors
  • 2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers
  • 2243 Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics
  • 2263 Inspectors in public and environmental health and occupational health and safety
  • 3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists
  • 3142 Physiotherapists
  • 3143 Occupational Therapists
  • 3211 Medical laboratory technologists
  • 3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists’ assistants
  • 3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
  • 3215 Medical radiation technologists
  • 3216 Medical sonographers
  • 3217 Cardiology technicians and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, n.e.c. (not elsewhere classified)

Educational Credential Assessment (“ECA”)

The purpose of the ECA is to determine whether the applicant’s foreign educational credential is authentic and equivalent to a completed credential in Canada.  Applicants who have Canadian educational credentials do not need an ECA, unless they are also submitting a foreign educational credential in support of their application.

As of April 17, 2013, four organizations have been designated by the Immigration Minister to provide ECA reports for purposes of immigrating to Canada under the new FSWP.  Additional organizations may be designated by CIC in the future. The designated organizations are:

The Medical Council of Canada has been designated only for those principal applicants who intend to apply with specialist physician (NOC Code 3111) or general practitioner/family physician (NOC Code 3112) as their primary occupation in their FSWP application.

CIC will only accept ECA reports issued after the date the organization was designated by CIC to provide ECA reports for immigration purposes (April 17, 2013). An ECA report will be valid for immigration purposes for 5 years from the date that it was issued by the designated organization.

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