Class

(1)For the purposes of subsection 12(2) of the Act, the federal skilled worker class is hereby prescribed as a class of persons who are skilled workers and who may become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada and who intend to reside in a province other than the Province of Quebec.

(2)A foreign national is a skilled worker if (a)within the 10 years before the date on which their application for a permanent resident visa is made, they have accumulated, over a continuous period, at least one year of full-time work experience, or the equivalent in part-time work, in the occupation that they identified in their application as their primary occupation, other than a restricted occupation, that is listed in TEER Category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification; (b)during that period of employment they performed the actions described in the lead statement for the occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions of the National Occupational Classification; (c)during that period of employment they performed a substantial number of the main duties of the occupation as set out in the occupational descriptions of the National Occupational Classification, including all of the essential duties; (d)they have submitted the results of a language test that is approved under subsection 74(3), which results must be provided by an organization or institution that is designated under that subsection, must be less than two years old on the date on which their application for a permanent resident visa is made and must indicate that they have met or exceeded the applicable language proficiency threshold in either English or French that is fixed by the Minister under subsection 74(1) for each of the four language skill areas; and (e)they have submitted one of the following:(i)their Canadian educational credential, or(ii)their foreign diploma, certificate or credential and the equivalency assessment, which assessment must be less than five years old on the date on which their application is made.

(2.1)If a professional body has been designated under subsection (4) in respect of the occupation identified by the foreign national in their application as their primary occupation, the foreign diploma, certificate or credential submitted by the foreign national must be relevant to that occupation and the equivalency assessment — which must be less than five years old on the date on which their application is made and must be issued by the designated professional body — must establish that the foreign diploma, certificate or credential is equivalent to the Canadian educational credential required to practise that occupation in at least one of the provinces in which the equivalency assessments issued by this professional body are recognized.

(3)If the foreign national fails to meet the requirements of subsection (2), the application for a permanent resident visa shall be refused and no further assessment is required.

(4)For the purposes of paragraph (2)(e) and subsection (2.1), the Minister may designate, for a period specified by the Minister, any organization or institution to be responsible for issuing equivalency assessments (a)if the organization or institution has the recognized expertise to assess the authenticity of foreign diplomas, certificates and credentials and their equivalency to Canadian educational credentials; and (b)if, in the case of a professional body, its equivalency assessments are recognized by at least two provincial professional bodies that regulate an occupation listed in TEER Category 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification for which licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required.

(5)The Minister shall make available to the public a list of the designated organizations or institutions.

(6)For the purpose of subsection (7), service agreement means an agreement concluded between the Government of Canada and an organization or institution for the purpose of having the organization or institution supply the service of assessing the authenticity of foreign diplomas, certificates and credentials and their equivalency to Canadian educational credentials.

(7)The Minister may revoke a designation if (a)the organization or institution no longer meets the criteria set out in subsection (4); (b)the organization or institution submitted false, misleading or inaccurate information or has contravened any provision of federal or provincial legislation relevant to the service provided by the organization or institution; or (c)either the Government of Canada or the organization or institution has terminated the service agreement.

(8)For the purposes of paragraph (2)(e), subsection (2.1) and section 78, an equivalency assessment is conclusive evidence that the foreign diplomas, certificates or credentials are equivalent to Canadian educational credentials.