The Trade Route Plan for Canada

This is the pack behind the SKILL video, from the Rekoja desk in Lagos. Canada invites people in trade occupations to apply for permanent residence through category-based selection in Express Entry, and on 1 October 2026 it invited 3,500 people in the trades category. The rule that surprises people: you need at least 12 months of full-time work in a listed trade within the past 3 years, and that work can be in Canada or abroad, so the years you spent on site in Nigeria count. Completing a profile does not guarantee an invitation, in Canada's own words. Below is the route in the order it happens, including how to enter the pool from a standing start.

Which of these is you

• I want to know what the trades category actually gives
• I want to check whether my trade is on the list
• I have never entered the pool and I need the steps
• I need the employer letter wording
• I work for myself
• I am in the pool and no invitation has come

The prize, permanent residence through a trades draw

Express Entry is the system Canada uses to choose people for permanent residence, a resident status for good. Inside it, category-based selection runs rounds for named categories, and trade occupations are one of those categories. On 1 October 2026 Canada invited 3,500 people in the trades category. Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, category-based selection.

A category round is the reason a trade matters here. In a general round you are ranked against everybody. In a trades round you are ranked against other tradespeople, which is a smaller room.

Who it fits

You need at least 12 months of full-time work, or the same number of hours part-time, in a listed trade within the past 3 years. The work can be in Canada or abroad, so work done in Nigeria counts. You must also meet the normal Express Entry requirements.

The trades confirmed on the list on 3 October 2026

The table on Canada's category page has 25 entries. These are the first 10 of them, read on 3 October 2026:

• Painters and decorators
• Roofers and shinglers
• Floor covering installers
• Concrete finishers
• Electrical mechanics
• Heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics
• Heavy-duty equipment mechanics
• Water well drillers
• Contractors and supervisors in oil and gas drilling
• Other technical trades

Open the category page linked above and search the table for your own trade before you plan anything, because the list has 25 entries and your trade may sit on the part of it this pack does not print.

The four steps

1. Find your trade in the table and note its code.
2. Prove your work. A letter on your employer's letterhead: your job title, your duties, your hours, your pay, your dates, signed, with a phone number.
3. Prepare for and write the English test. Your test score is where most of your points are won, so prepare before you book.
4. Create your Express Entry profile on Canada's site.

How to enter the pool, step by step

Read on canada.ca on 4 October 2026. "The pool" is the list of people Canada chooses from, and you are not in it until you submit a profile.

Before you start, gather these, which is Canada's own list.

• Your passport. If it expires within 6 months, renew it first.
• Your English test result.
• An education assessment report, if you want points for schooling done outside Canada.
• Proof of your work: the employer letter below.
• A trade certificate from a Canadian province, only if you have one. Most people applying from Nigeria will not, and that is fine.
• Proof of funds and police certificates. You will be asked for these if you are invited, so start early.

Then, on Canada's site.

1. Open "Express Entry: Create your profile and enter the pool" on canada.ca.
2. Sign in to an IRCC secure account, or create one. It is your own account, with your own email and password. Never let anybody create it with their email.
3. Enter your details exactly as they are on your passport and your documents. You can stop at any time, because the site saves what you have entered.
4. You have 60 days from the day you start to complete and submit the profile. After 60 days you start again.
5. Submit. Canada checks which programme you fit, gives you a score and ranks you.
6. Now you wait for a round of invitations. Keep the profile up to date: a better English score or more work experience raises you.

What Canada itself says: completing a profile or entering the pool does not guarantee an invitation. You can only apply for residence if you are invited. Sources: the documents you need and create your profile and enter the pool.

Your six-week English test plan

Counted from the week of 5 October 2026, if you start now.

The list of tests Canada accepts is on canada.ca. Check it there before you pay for any test.

Where your points come from, in plain words

Your age. Your education. Your English score. Your years of work. A partner's English and education, if you have one. French, if you speak it. The one you can change fastest is your English score.

The employer letter, ready to copy

On the company's letterhead, signed, with a phone number and email.

"To whom it may concern. This is to confirm that [full name] has worked with [company] as a [job title] from [date] to [date or 'present'], full time, [hours] hours a week, on a salary of [amount] a month. His/her main duties are: [list five to seven real duties, in plain words, the way the work is really done]. [Name, position, signature, date, phone, email]."

Write your duties in your own words. Do not copy the wording from Canada's website word for word.

If you work for yourself

Collect what proves the work is real: your business registration if you have one, invoices and receipts, bank statements showing customers paying you, and letters from two or three regular customers. Self-employed files need extra care, so this is the one case where the free profile check is worth doing before you build anything else.

Four mistakes to avoid

1. Paying anybody for a "job offer". A real employer does not sell jobs.
2. A letter that says only "he works here". Canada needs the duties.
3. Booking the test before preparing.
4. Leaving your profile blank after creating it. A profile only counts when it is complete.

If the invitation does not come

Not everyone in the pool is invited. The invitation goes to the highest scores among the people in your category, so your age, education, language score and work all add points, and a stronger language score is the fastest thing you can change. Your profile stays in the pool, so the move after a round that passes you by is not to start again: it is to raise the score inside the profile you already have, sit the English test again, and add the work experience you have gained since you entered. Canada itself says a profile does not guarantee an invitation, and the honest reading of that is that the score is the work.

What the route asks you to pay for, and who sets each price

Each provider publishes its own current fee on its own page, so check the figure there on the day you budget. The naira rate line at the bottom of this page is the rate those figures convert at.

Questions people ask

Does work I did in Nigeria count? Yes. The eligibility rule is at least 12 months of full-time work in a listed trade within the past 3 years, and Canada's category page states that the work can be in Canada or abroad.

How many people were invited in the trades round? Canada invited 3,500 people in the trades category on 1 October 2026.

Do I need a Canadian trade certificate? Only if you already hold one. It is on Canada's document list as something to include if you have it, and most people applying from Nigeria will not have one.

How long do I have to finish my profile? 60 days from the day you start. After 60 days you start the profile again.

Am I guaranteed an invitation once I am in the pool? No. Canada's own words: completing a profile or entering the pool does not guarantee an invitation, and you can only apply for residence if you are invited.

Want us to do it for you?

You already know this is your route, and you do not need another test.

Rekoja coaches you through the file, in your own account and in your own name. We work through the duties in your employer letter until they read like the job you actually do, and line up the education assessment and the police certificates in the order Canada asks for them. We review the profile with you before you submit it, and tell you plainly where the file is weak while there is still time to fix it. Tell us on the form that you came from this pack.

Advice and preparation are delivered by Rekoja Nigeria Limited from Lagos. Nobody can promise an invitation or permanent residence, including us. What you control is the score and the evidence behind it.

Only immigration authorities decide applications.