Canadian Experience Class for Immigration

1. Canadian Experience Class • Citizenship and immigration Canada has created the new Canadian Experience class to respond to a demand for more skilled workers in Canada. • The CEC aims to facilitate the transition from temporary to permanent residence for certain temporary foreign workers and foreign students. • The CEC will be limited to Skill Type 0 Management Occupations, Skill Level A (professional occupations), or Skill Level B (technical occupations and skilled trades) of the National Occupation Classifications (NOC). Lower-skilled occupations (NOC skill levels C and D) will not be eligible. • All applicants must: • i) have come to Canada to work or study; • ii) have been lawfully admitted to Canada; and • have temporary resident status in Canada at • the time of application for the CEC.

2. Canadian Experience Class (contd…) • Foreign nationals who are already in the process of receiving their permanent resident status through other avenues do not qualify under the CEC (primary objective is for those students to take what they have learned back to the home country). • The CEC will select on a pass/fail model, and not a points system, as under the FSWP. The selection criteria to qualify for the class will be tied to: • i) determinants of successful labour market integration; • ii) possession of a Canadian credential (only in the case of foreign graduates); • iii) Canadian skilled work experience; and • iv) Official language proficiency.

3. Canadian Experience Class (contd…) • The proposed Regulations create two distinct streams with different thresholds for each selection criterion: • i) Foreign graduates will need to obtain 12 months of legal work experience within a 24-month period prior to making a CEC application, obtain a Canadian credential by studying in Canada full-time for at least two academic years, and meet the language benchmark for their occupation skill level; • ii) Temporary foreign workers will need to obtain 24 months of legal work experience in Canada within a 36-month period prior to making a CEC application and meet the language benchmark for their occupation skill level. • With regards to language thresholds, applicants with qualifying Canadian work experience at NOC 0 or A will need to demonstrate moderate proficiency in French or English. Applicants with qualifying Canadian work experience at NOC B will need to demonstrate basic proficiency in French or English.

4. Canadian Experience Class (contd…) • The Buffalo visa office will process CEC applications (principal applicants and dependants) using the procedures currently applied to federal skilled worker applicants already in Canada. Existing health, security and criminality screenings will continue to be carried out before permanent resident status is granted. • Foreign nationals requiring interviews by the Buffalo visa office, but who are unable to obtain U.S. visas, or those residing closer to other CIC visa offices in the United States, will be accommodated.