Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP)

Canada is facing a skilled labour shortage as its economy continues to expand at the same time as growing numbers of Canadians are retiring from the workforce. Consequently, Canada’s government and Canadian businesses have been increasingly seeking skilled foreign workers to help fill thousands of Canadian job openings across the country. In order to attract thousands of skilled foreign workers who can immediately integrate into Canada’s economy, the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP) was established to offer a Permanent Resident Visa pathway to Canada. This was done to attract foreign nationals in various high-demand managerial, professional and technical occupations that often require a college or university education or other advanced training.

The past immigration selection process for a work visa to Canada was not adequately responding to the evolving needs of Canada’s dynamic labour market. A number of skilled foreign workers were experiencing difficulty in finding jobs in their field and some employers were also facing challenges finding workers with the skills and qualifications they needed. Thus, Canada’s government, in consultation with Canadian business leaders and various experts, revised the requirements for the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP) in order to offer a Permanent Resident (PR) Visa to Canada to skilled foreign workers who are in a strong position to meet the needs of businesses across the country and to find jobs in Canada in their particular field. Not only were the requirements to apply for the FSWP updated, but the Canadian immigration system was also improved to more quickly offer a PR Visa to Canada to the most qualified FSWP candidates through the Express Entry system which was officially launched on January 1, 2015.

Who can apply for the FSWP? 

The Canadian government has announced its goal to issue a Permanent Resident (PR) Visa to Canada to a record 160,600 “economic immigrants” in 2016 (which since then has been growing annually reaching record heights) through various Canadian immigration programs, such as the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP). 

Skilled foreign workers and their eligible family members who are granted a PR Visa to Canada through the FSWP are authorized to live and work in Canada long-term, 

Another great benefit of being issued a PR Visa to Canada through the FSWP is the option to apply for Canadian citizenship after living in Canada as a permanent resident at least four years and meeting other criteria!

The FSWP is reliant on qualifying criteria. This criteria is then awarded points through a point based system which is based on Selection Factors. The following Selection Factors are taken into consideration when awarding points:

Together, these factors amount to a total of 100 points of which you will need a minimum of 67 points to qualify for entry into the Express Entry pool. You earn points on how well you do in each of the 6 factors.

Please note that if you would like to live and work in Quebec, you cannot apply for immigration to Canada through the FSWP and must instead apply for Canadian immigration through the Quebec-Selected Skilled Workers Program (QSWP).

One of the key eligibility requirements for the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP) is to have at least one year of continuous full-time paid work experience during the past 10 years in a qualifying occupation listed by the National Occupational Classification (NOC) as being at TEER 0 (Senior Management Occupations), TEER 1 (certain professions usually requiring a university education), or TEER 2 (certain technical jobs and skilled trades usually requiring a college education or apprenticeship training).

In-Demand Fields

Examples of In Demand Jobs in the last 10 years:

Recently Specialized Draws has been implemented for the following occupations:

Please note that the above occupations are a limited sample of the many occupations that qualify for the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP) and that there are dozens of additional occupations that are also eligible for this popular Canadian immigration program.