Canadian Experience Class: who are the lucky ones

The new immigration class is intended for those who have already lived in Canada, working and/or studying for some time. Applications under this class should be submitted either while an applicant is still residing in Canada (legally of course) or after he/she have left job in Canada but not later than 1 year after that.

Key factors in determining eligibility are education, work experience and language profeciency, which is very much similar to the Federal Skilled Worker class. 

General requirements

An applicant under Canadian Experience Class must: 

• have at least 2 years of full-time (or equivalent, which meand 37.5 paid work hours per week) work experience in Canada or at least 1 year if he is a graduate from a Canadian post-secondary institution;
• have all the above work experience and education being obtained legally under proper permits;
• have the above work experience listed in NOC Skill type 0 or Skill level A or Skill level B;
• not plan to live in the province of Quebec.

Requirements variations for workers and graduates.

Applications will be assessed on just two requirements if an applicant is not a graduate from a Canadian post-secondary institution: work experience and language profeciency. For those who are graduates, an education will also be taken into account. 

If an applicant wants to apply based on Canadian credentials, he must complete either: 

• a full-time Canadian post-secondary educational program of at least two years or
• a one-year Master’s program (certificates and diplomas cannot be counted) and an additional year of education, obtained in Canada, before admission into the one-year program (for a total of two years).

Main limitations

While in general new immigration class looks very attractive, there are some certain limitations imposed:

• Graduates from Canadian post-secondary institutions applying under this class should note, that they must have a minimum of 1 year of work experience after they have graduated but not later than 2 years before applying. Any work experience obtained during study, even if it was part of the study, is not counted.
• Any "English as second language" or "French as second language" courses are not counted towards the towards education requirements under the class. If second language course was a part of the education program, it must constitute less than a half of it.
• Work experience gained while working in Canada legally during review of an applicant's refugee case will not be counted.
• Application under Canadian Experience Class must be submitted while working in Canada or within not more than 1 year of leaving job in Canada.
• An applicant must not intend to live in Quebec; but applicant's previous work and/or study in Quebec are counted towards the requirements under the program.

Switching from Federal Skilled Worker program

If a person have already submitted an application under the Federal Skilled Worker class and he wants to be assessed also under new Canadian Experience Class, he may apply under the latter class also on a regular basis (complete application and fees). Moreover, if processing of the application uder Federal Skilled Worker class has not started yet, an applicant may withdraw it and be entitled to a refund.

However, new applicants cannot submit their applications under two different immigration programs - they must choose either Federal Skilled Worker or Canadian Experience Class.

Processing times

It's hard to predict processing times for the new Canadian Experience Class, but based on the fact than in almost all respects the new program is very similar to the Federal Skilled Worker Class, it may be supposed that processing times should be also similar, and also very different for visa offices in different countries.