Pathway

Canada Experience-Based Permanent Residence

Canada Residency

Updated October 8, 2026

Pathway overview

At a glance

If you have recent, authorized skilled work experience in Canada, the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) may offer a route to permanent residence through Express Entry. You do not need a Canadian job offer or a particular level of education. Meeting the minimum requirements lets you enter the candidate pool; it does not guarantee an invitation to apply.

Job or skills fit: Workers with at least one year of qualifying skilled work in Canada within the previous three years
Requirements: Eligible Canadian work experience, required language results, an Express Entry profile, and an invitation
Experience exclusions: Work during full-time study and most self-employment do not count toward the Canadian experience minimum

Summary

The Canadian Experience Class offers a permanent-residence selection route for workers with at least one year of qualifying skilled work in Canada during the previous three years. The experience and required language results establish program eligibility; work during full-time study and most self-employment do not count toward that minimum.

Eligible candidates enter the Express Entry pool, where a Comprehensive Ranking System score ranks their profiles. An invitation is needed before filing for permanent residence, so qualifying Canadian experience does not guarantee selection.

Qualifying work comes before Express Entry selection

Check your Canadian work experience Review permission to work, job duties, the past three years, weekly hour limits, and any periods that cannot count.
Meet the requirements and join the pool Provide the required language results. Express Entry then ranks eligible candidates using a separate score.
Apply for permanent residence If invited Support the claims in your profile and meet Canada's immigration entry requirements.

A profile does not extend your stay or allow you to work. A year living in Canada is not necessarily a year of qualifying work, and eligibility does not guarantee an invitation.

Eligibility

The main applicant normally needs to meet all of these requirements:

Canadian skilled work: at least 1,560 hours of paid work in Canada during the three years before the permanent-residence application. IRCC counts no more than 30 hours per week. The total can come from full-time or part-time work and from more than one job; CEC does not require one continuous year with one employer.
Authorized status: the work was performed while the person was physically in Canada and authorized to work as a temporary resident. Remote work counts as Canadian work only when the person was in Canada and working for a Canadian employer.
Eligible occupations: the work was in one or more National Occupational Classification (NOC) jobs at TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3. NOC groups occupations, and TEER groups them by training, education, experience, and responsibilities. For each claimed job, the person must have done the work in the NOC's main description and most listed duties. Job title alone does not establish the NOC.
Language: valid results from an approved English or French test in all four abilities. The minimum on Canada's English or French language scales (CLB/NCLC) is level 7 for work in TEER 0 or 1, and level 5 for work in TEER 2 or 3.
Place of settlement: a genuine plan to live outside Quebec. Work gained while living in Quebec can count if the person can show that they plan to settle elsewhere.
Admissibility: you and accompanying family members must pass the required medical, criminal, security, and other entry checks.

Volunteer work and unpaid internships do not count. Work completed while the applicant was a full-time student, including a co-op term, does not count toward the CEC minimum. Self-employment also normally does not count. IRCC has a narrow public policy for certain physicians providing publicly funded medical services; it should not be treated as a general self-employment exception.

There is no CEC education minimum. Canadian education or a foreign credential supported by an Educational Credential Assessment, which compares the qualification with Canadian education can still add CRS points. CEC applicants also do not need to show Express Entry settlement funds, although they must be able to support themselves in practice.

What This Route Allows

If IRCC invites the candidate and approves the complete application, CEC leads to Canadian permanent residence. Eligible spouses, partners and dependent children can be included and must complete their own document and admissibility requirements.

Permanent residence generally allows the person to live, work and study anywhere in Canada, subject to the initial non-Quebec settlement intention and the ordinary permanent-resident obligations.

What This Route Is Not

CEC is not a work permit and an Express Entry profile does not extend temporary status. A person must keep separate authorization to remain and work in Canada while waiting.

One year in Canada is not automatically one year of qualifying experience. Student work, unauthorized work, self-employment, unpaid work, work outside eligible TEER levels, or hours above IRCC's weekly cap may not count.

Eligibility does not guarantee an invitation. CRS cut-offs, draw types and category rules change, so previous invitation scores are not promises about a future round.

Next Steps

Match each Canadian job to the NOC using its duties and main description. Do not choose a code because its title sounds favorable.
Calculate qualifying hours inside the three-year window, using IRCC's 30-hour weekly cap. Separate student, self-employed, unpaid or unauthorized periods.
Collect detailed employer letters, pay records, tax slips and work permits showing duties, dates, hours, pay and authorization.
Take an approved language test and confirm that the results will remain valid when the Express Entry profile and permanent-residence application are submitted.
Add eligible education evidence if it improves the CRS score. Obtain an immigration-purpose Educational Credential Assessment for foreign education if claiming those points.
Create an Express Entry profile, enter the work history accurately and review the resulting CRS score against current rounds. Keep the profile and status information updated.
If invited, re-check CEC eligibility and the CRS score before submitting the complete permanent-residence application within the deadline shown in the invitation.
Maintain valid temporary status independently. A bridging open work permit is available only when its separate requirements are met; merely entering the Express Entry pool is not enough.

Discussed in these reports

Sources

IRCC — Canadian Experience Class — current work, education, admissibility and settlement requirements.
IRCC — Express Entry language requirements — approved tests and minimum levels by TEER.
IRCC — Check your CRS score — official ranking calculator and current CRS rules.
IRCC — Express Entry rounds of invitations — current and past round instructions, scores and draw types.
IRCC — Bridging open work permit — separate eligibility rules for maintaining work authorization after a qualifying PR application.

Canada Experience-Based Permanent Residence

At a glance

Summary

Eligibility

What This Route Allows

What This Route Is Not

Next Steps

Stay up to date on this pathway

Discussed in these reports

Explore other pathways

Sweden EU Blue Card

Australia Skilled Regional Visa

Australia Skilled Independent Visa

Sources