April 24, 2014 – Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will issue a new set of Ministerial Instructions to immigration officers for processing applications in the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). The new instructions, to be issued on April 26, 2014, will be effective May 1, 2014.
In advance of the anticipated launch of CIC's "Express Entry" program in 2015, CIC also announced that these would be the last FSWP, FSTP and CEC applications to be considered under the current system. As a result, in order to support Canada's continued need for skilled workers and skilled tradespeople, overall caps in both the FSWP and FSTP have been increased. In addition, the list of eligible occupations in the FSWP has doubled, and all 90 designated trades will be eligible for consideration under the FSTP.
Federal Skilled Worker Program
- Overall cap of 25,000 applications
- Cap of 500 for the PhD stream
- Sub-caps of 1,000 applications for each of the 50 eligible occupations
- No cap on applicants with a valid job offer from a Canadian employer
Federal Skilled Trades Program
- Overall cap of 5,000 applications
- Sub-caps of 100 applications for each of the 90 eligible skilled trade categories
Canadian Experience Class
- Overall cap of 8,000 applications
- Sub-caps of 200 applications each for any NOC-B occupation
- Six ineligible categories: Administrative officers; administrative assistants; accounting technicians and bookkeepers; cooks; food service supervisors; and retail sales supervisors
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