Job in Canada - Québec

Job in Canada and consequent immigration

For the last several decades, Canadian immigration has been mostly driven by acute shortage of skilled workers in Canada and that shortage is expected to worsen as the Canadian population ages.

Under various immigration programs (see Ways to immigrate to Canada), a job in Canada is a beneficial factor in the process of successful applying for Canadian permanent residence and sometimes it is the only way to immigrate to Canada.

However not all the jobs in Canada entitle foreign workers to apply for permanent residence on that basis. As you may know, there is the National Occupational Classification (NOC) in place which divides all the occupations in Canada into 5 levels, from Level 0 to Level A down to level D. In the context of the NOC,

Skill Level corresponds to the type and/or amount of training or education typically required to work in an occupation.

Skill Level is primarily based on the nature of education and training required to work in an occupation. For example, occupations in Level A usually require university education, whereas occupations in Level B usually require college or vocational education or apprenticeship training, whereas at Level D on-the-job training is usually sufficient. Very often, level of NOC is determinative as to whether a foreign national may apply for permanent residence in Canada.

For example, under the conditions of the Canadian Experience Class, work experience acquired in occupations falling in levels C or D is not counted under the program’s requirements and any period of job in Canada accumulated in occupations in levels C or D will not count toward qualifying period of job in Canada.

Other programs do allow any period of job in Canada to be counted as a qualifying period and an applicant may later apply for permanent residence in Canada. For instance, under the conditions of the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program or, for example, under the conditions of the Live-in caregiver program, people with jobs that fall into lower levels of NOC will be able to apply for permanent residence on the basis of having worked in Canada at lower level NOCs.

It is worth noticing that some of the programs, the most popular is the Federal Skilled Worker program, may provide for some benefits in terms of applying for permanent immigration for working in Canada in any occupation, whereas the same program requires that an applicant has to have at least one year of experience in higher NOC levels of O, A and B, though the experience may be obtained inside Canada as well as outside Canada for the last 10 years.

You may wish to contact an immigration office to receive assistance in finding out whether you are eligible to apply for permanent residence in Canada under the conditions of various immigration programs as well as with reference to any other Canadian immigration matters.