Federal Skilled Worker

The FSW was the world's first program to evaluate immigration candidates objectively. Today, the FSW is among the three skilled worker programs managed by Canada's Express Entry system. This comprehensive KG Immigration Consultant page outlines what you need to know about the FSW.

Canada launched the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) in 1967 to select immigrants from all over the world. Prior to the introduction of the FSW, Canada selected skilled worker immigrants subjectively, based on the discretion of individual immigration officers who made a judgment call on whether they thought a candidate could integrate into the Canadian job market.
The Canadian government realized this old approach was problematic and so it introduced the world's first points system to select immigrants. No longer would Canada use subjective criteria. Instead, it decided to use objective criteria to evaluate all candidates the same way: based on each candidate's age, education, language skills, work experience, occupation, among other factors.

The benefits of the FSW

Today, the FSW is managed through the Express Entry application management system. Under Express Entry, Canada aims to welcome over 110,000 immigrants by 2024. Most successful Express Entry candidates immigrate to Canada through the FSW. Research by the Canadian government shows that FSW immigrants go on to have successful and fulfilling careers in Canada.
In addition, pursuing immigration through the FSW is beneficial since you can gain permanent residence within six months, compared with longer processing times for Canada's other skilled worker programs.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible to apply under the Federal Skilled Worker , potential candidates must meet the minimum requirements for work, language ability, education and obtain at least 67 points under the program's 100-point grid.

The minimum requirements are:

• One year of continuous full-time or equivalent paid work experience in the past 10 years in a skilled occupation classified under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill level 0, A or B;
• Validated language ability equivalent to Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 in English or French across all abilities (reading, writing, listening, and speaking); and
• Canadian educational credential (certificate, diploma, or degree) or foreign credential and Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report.
• Get at least 67 out of 100 points on the FSW grid. The program's grid assesses candidates based on factors that include age, education, work experience, arranged employment, language ability, and adaptability.

Once you are eligible, you can enter the Express Entry pool. Candidate profiles in the Express Entry pool, which also includes Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience Class candidates, are ranked based on the CRS.

Selection Factors

The FSW's selection factors are listed below. Click on each factor to learn more: