Canada switches the National Occupation Classification (NOC) system from Skill Levels to TEER Categories

Highlights

Skill Level based National Occupation Classification(NOC) will be replaced by the Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) categories, effective 16 November 2022.
Current NOC 2016 skill type and skill level structure (NOC 0, A, B, C, and D) will get replaced with a NOC 2021 six category system.
Current 4-digit occupation classification codes are going to become 5-digit codes.
Eligibility criteria for all immigration programs that use the NOC codes will be updated to use TEER classification system.

🇨🇦 What is the National Occupation Classification (NOC) System ?

NOC Skill Levels system for occupational classification is a fundamental part of Canada's Skilled Migration Program. Canada conducts a review and overhaul of its occupational classification system once in every ten years.

The existing system has five skill levels to categorize different occupations:

0 Managerial jobs.
A Professional jobs requiring university education
B Skilled trades requiring college education or apprentice training.
C Semi-skilled jobs requiring secondary school or occupational training.
D Semi-skilled and unskilled jobs requiring on-job training with little or no other formal education.

Overview of the new TEER System

🚀 Canada is switching from a NOC Skill Level based system to a TEER categories based system.

As per the TEER system, jobs will be grouped into training, education, experience and responsibilities (TEER) categories based on the type of:

job duties
work a person does

Table below shows some example of occupations types and the corresponding TEER categories:

TEER	Occupation Types	Examples
TEER 0	Management occupations	- Advertising, marketing and public relations managers - Financial managers
TEER 1	Occupations that usually require a university degree	- Financial advisors - Software engineers
TEER 2	Occupations that usually require: - a college diploma - apprenticeship training of 2 or more years, or - supervisory occupations	- Computer network and web technicians - Medical laboratory technologists
TEER 3	Occupations that usually require: - a college diploma - apprenticeship training of less than 2 years, or - more than 6 months of on-the-job training	- Bakers - Dental assistants and dental laboratory assistants
TEER 4	Occupations that usually require: - a high school diploma, or - several weeks of on-the-job training	- Home child care providers - Retail salespersons and visual merchandisers
TEER 5	Occupations that usually need short-term work demonstration and no formal education	- Landscaping and grounds maintenance labourers - Delivery service drivers and door-to-door distributors

💡With the exception of TEER 5 and TEER 0, persons in other TEER categories can move to a higher category on basis of their work experience even if they don’t have the prescribed educational qualifications. To this extent, long work experience is treated to be equivalent to a formal degree.

📓 You can view the full list of occupational classification here.. Please ensure you select NOC 2021 in the dropdown.

Comparison of NOC Skill Types (2016) versus NOC TEER Classification System (2021)

A broad comparison of the NOC Skill Type versus the TEER categories indicates:

Most occupations will remain in the TEER category equivalent to the NOC Skill Level listed in the table below.
Some occupations might move into a different category
Skill Level B occupations might be categorised as TEER 2 or TEER 3 category occupations.

Skill Type or Level	TEER Classification
Skill Type 0	TEER 0
Skill Type A	TEER 1
Skill Type B	TEER 2 or 3
Skill Type C	TEER 4
Skill Type D	TEER 5

Impact of the Changes

The following immigration programs will be affected by these changes and will have updated eligibility requirements:

Express Entry
- Federal Skilled Worker Program
- Canadian Experience Class
- Federal Skilled Trades Program
Atlantic Immigration Program
Provincial Nominee Program
Caregivers Programs
Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
Agri-Food Pilot
Out-of-Status Construction Workers
International Mobility Program
Temporary Foreign Worker Program

What Occupations have been affected due to the change to the TEER System?

Due to NOC 2016’s Skill Level B jobs being split between NOC 2021’s TEER 2 and TEER 3, some candidates may have their eligibility affected due to changes in eligibility for certain occupations.

For Express Entry - only occupations in TEER 3, TEER 2, TEER 1, and TEER 0 are eligible.

⚡️ Under the new TEER system, 16 occupations have become eligible, and 3 occupations have become ineligible for Express Entry.

Newly Eligible Occupations under Express Entry

Payroll administrators
Dental assistants and dental laboratory assistants
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Elementary and secondary school teacher assistants
Sheriffs and bailiffs
Correctional service officers
By-law enforcement and other regulatory officers
Estheticians, electrologists and related occupations
Residential and commercial installers and servicers
Pest controllers and fumigators
Other repairers and servicers
Transport truck drivers
Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators
Heavy equipment operators
Aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors.

Newly Ineligible Occupations under Express Entry

Other performers
Program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness
Tailors, dressmakers, furriers and milliners.

👉 Check your occupation classification under the new TEER system here.

Implications for Current and Future Applicants

Depending on where an individual candidate is in their Express Entry journey, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires different actions in accordance with the switch to TEER Categories based system.

Candidates who have not yet submitted an Express Entry profile (before 16 November 2022) will be required to find and submit their occupation’s code in line with the NOC 2021 when filling out the profile.
Candidates who have submitted a profile before 16 November 2022, but have not received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) will need to update their submitted Express Entry profile any time after the changes are implemented tomorrow. This will require the individual to search the NOC 2021 list on the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) website and update their profile with their TEER category and five-digit occupation code.
Candidates who got their ITA prior to November 16 must submit their Express Entry application using NOC 2016 (using the NOC code provided at the time of receipt).