Transport truck drivers remain eligible for Canada’s Express Entry immigration program for skilled workers, but may find it a bit tougher to secure permanent residence status under changes made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
An IRCC administrative update has removed National Occupational Classification Code 73300 for transport truck drivers from the list of occupations eligible for a Certificate of Qualification (CoQ) — a criterion that helped boost scores in the permanent resident application process.
“It has been determined that transport truck drivers do not have a CoQ-equivalent certification that some other tradespeople have [e.g. carpenters, welders, etc.]. Therefore, IRCC has removed the occupation from this list,” an IRCC official told TruckNews.com.
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Obtaining a CoQ can increase an applicant’s Comprehensive Ranking System score by up to 50 points and significantly improve chances of receiving an invitation to apply for permanent residence under the Express Entry system, says Manan Gupta, immigration consultant at Skylake Immigration based in Brampton, Ont.
A CoQ proves that a person is qualified to work in a certain skilled trade, having passed a certification exam and met all the requirements to practice their trade in an applicable province or territory. If the province or territory where the individual plans to live and work doesn’t issue a CoQ in the applicable trade, applicants will need a valid job offer to be eligible for Express Entry, Gupta said.
