Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)

Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) is an immigration program of the federal level. It is designed for skilled specialists with the work experience obtained outside Canada. This program receives the biggest quota for the number of issued immigration visas.

Entry requirements for FSWP

CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) assesses federal skilled worker applications based on six selection factors. If you score 67 points or higher (out of 100), you may qualify to immigrate to Canada as a federal skilled worker.

The selection factors are:

  • your skills in English and/or French
  • your education
  • your work experience
  • your age
  • whether you have a valid job offer
  • your adaptability (how well you are likely to settle in Canada)
Also there is a minimum work experience requirement - not less than one year of full-time employment in the last ten years. In addition to that, the work experience must be in the positions that can be classified as Skill Type 0, or Skill Level A and Skill Level B of the Canadian National Occupation Classification (NOC) system. And an important factor is the English/French language level.

Express Entry application management system

If you score 67 or more points under the FSWP and want to apply for immigration under this program, first you need to get through the application management system Express Entry.

The Express Entry system has its own ranking system that assesses and scores candidates against others. CIC regularly selects the highest-ranking candidates from the pool by inviting them to immigrate to Canada as permanent residents. These rounds of invitations are usually performed twice a month. Those candidates, who were selected and received a Letter of Invitation, can proceed further and submit their application for immigration to CIC.

Submitting documents for immigration

If your application has been selected from the pool of candidates in the Express Entry system, you will receive a Letter of Invitation. This means that you can now submit your application for immigration, along with a complete set of documents, to immigration authorities for further review.

Currently the selected candidates are given 90 days from the date they receive a Letter of Invitation, for submitting their documents, which is too little. That is why we recommend preparing the required documents in advance, before applying to the Express Entry system, so that by the time you are selected from the pool, you already have most of your documents ready to submit.