Ferderal Skilled Trades

The Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) was introduced in January 2013. It is intended to help fill Canada’s growing labor shortages in certain skilled trades by facilitating immigration through selection criteria that better reflect trades person’s particulars.

The FSTC puts more emphasis on practical experience as many trades people could not meet the selection criteria established for Federal Skilled Workers.

The FSTC is prescribed as a class of persons who may become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada as workers in a skilled trade occupation, and who

• intend to reside in a province other than the province of Quebec;
• meet the minimum language proficiency in English or French for each of the four language skill areas;
• have acquired at least two years of full-time work experience (or the equivalent in part-time work experience) in the skilled trade occupation specified in the application for permanent residence during the five years before the date of the application. This work experience must have been acquired after becoming qualified to independently practice that occupation, according to the regulations in place where the work was performed;
• have met the relevant employment requirements of that skilled trade occupation as set out in the NOC, except for the requirement to obtain a certificate of qualification issued by a competent provincial authority; and
• have an offer of employment for continuous full-time work for a total period of at least one year from up to two employers in that skilled trade occupation or hold a certificate of qualification in that skilled trade from a Canadian provincial or territorial authority.

The applicant does not have to be employed at the time of application.

Occupational areas for FSTC include:

• industrial, electrical and construction trades
• maintenance, and equipment operation trades
• supervisor and technical occupations in natural resources, agriculture and related production
• processing, manufacturing and utilities supervisors and central control operators
• chefs and cooks
• butchers and bakers