Canada opens Express Entry Draw for Federal Skilled Trades

The 159th Express Entry Draw is one of the rarest Draw as Canada has issued invitations to candidates belonging to Federal Skilled Trades only. Since 2015, this is for the 7th time that Canada has invited candidates from the Federal Skilled Trades Program. This was the first FST-specific express entry draw for the year 2020. Around 250 candidates from the Federal Skilled Trades Program got invitations to apply for Canada PR. FSTP candidates required a Comprehensive Ranking System score of 415 or higher in order to get invited by the IRCC. Recently, IRCC has conducted an all-program express entry draw in which 3,900 candidates received invitations with a CRS score requirement of 476 points. So, with these two express entry draws combined, the IRCC has issued 4,150 ITAs.

Express Entry: Federal Skilled Trades

The Federal Skilled Trades is an immigration program that is managed by the federal Express Entry. The FST program is specially meant for tradespeople and it gives them a faster route to Canadian Permanent Residence. The FST was launched in 2013 to overcome the scarcity of workers in several skilled trades occupations. A less number of ITAs are issued every year through the FSTP. In 2019, only 1,000 invitations went to FST candidates out of the total 85,300 ITAs issued through the express entry. Also, the Federal Skilled Trades category demands a lower CRS score as compared to Federal Skilled Worker and Canadian Experience Class programs of the express entry. Therefore, IRCC holds occasional FSTP draws so that Canada can get skilled workers in the essential trades and support the country’s labor market needs.

Requirements for FST

If a candidate wants to qualify for FST, he or she requires a minimum of 2 years of full-time work experience in any skilled trade. This work experience will be counted only if the candidate has a valid certificate to practice trade in their residence country. Candidates require work experience in any of the following trades:

Maintenance, equipment operation;
Chefs and cooks;
Butchers or bakers;
Processing, manufacturing, central control operations, utilities;
Technical and supervisor jobs in natural resources, agriculture, and related production;
Industrial, electrical, and construction.