Canadian Experience Class

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) is one of the three economic streams available under Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (Immigration Canada) Express Entry program. The CEC is the main program where foreign nationals, currently residing in Canada, or those whom have recent Canadian work experience, will qualify.

The CEC is a pass/fail program. In order to qualify, a foreign national must demonstrate that they:

• Have, at minimum, one year of Canadian full-time work experience, or the equivalent in part-time work experience, in one or more occupations that are at the management, professional or technical level (National Occupational Classification (NOC) levels O, A or B), obtained within the last three years; and
• Meet the minimum language capabilities in English or French in each of the four language abilities:
  • For NOC skill type level 0 or A, a minimum of CLB (Canadian Language Benchmark) 7 is required;
  • For NOC skill type level B, a minimum of CLB 5 is required;

Under the CEC there is no minimum education requirement. However, if one holds a foreign education diploma, they may still wish to have their education assessed by an approved agency in order to be awarded points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

If a foreign national has obtained at minimum one year of Canadian full-time work experience, and they subsequently leave Canada, they may still qualify under the CEC. However, they must file their application within two years of having obtained the one year of Canadian full-time work experience. 

If a foreign national meets the minimum criteria, their Express Entry profile will be placed in the pool of applicants. Once in the pool of applicants, a foreign national’s profile will be awarded points based on the information contained in their Express Entry profile, and then they will be ranked against all other candidates in the Express Entry pool. They will be awarded a points based on the Express Entry CRS matrix.