The Critical Worker Pilot is a pilot provincial program in New Brunswick where an employer can waive an applicant’s language, education, or work experience requirements by letter, provided the applicant has a job offer from a participating company.
In short
- New Brunswick’s pilot program can be closed by the government at any time, with no guarantee of renewal.
- An employer letter replaces three requirements at once — language, education, and work experience.
- Without an employer letter, applicants need CLB 4 in all skills, completed high school, and 1,560 working hours in 12 of the last 5 years.
- The program has literally a handful of participating employers, not hundreds like the Atlantic Immigration Program.
- Regulated occupations (such as truck driving) require a separate Canadian license even with an employer letter.
What the Critical Worker Pilot Is and Who It’s For
The Critical Worker Pilot is a pilot program for critical workers operating in the province of New Brunswick. Its “pilot” status means it was created by the Government of New Brunswick for specific regional needs, not as a permanent immigration channel. That carries a practical risk: the program can run today and disappear tomorrow — the provincial government can close it at any time with no long-term guarantees.
the provincial government can close it at any time with no long-term guarantees
For an applicant, this means checking whether the program is currently active before applying, rather than relying on outdated information.
The basic eligibility condition is an age of 19 or older. Applicants younger than this threshold cannot take part in the program — they must wait until they turn 19.
The program can be closed by the New Brunswick government at any time — always verify its current status before applying.
How an Employer Letter Replaces Language, Education, and Experience
An employer can sign a special confirmation letter that replaces three program requirements at once: language, education, and work experience. This letter isn’t a formality — it’s an official mechanism built into the program for replacing the standard criteria.
If an applicant has no language test results, the employer confirms in writing that the candidate’s level of English or French is acceptable to them. Formally, this exempts the applicant from taking a language test, even if their actual language proficiency is low.
The mechanism works the same way for education: if an applicant has no high school diploma or no assessment (ECA) of a foreign diploma, the employer signs a letter stating that the candidate’s level of education is acceptable to them. This is sufficient even if the applicant never finished school.
Work experience is waived the same way. If an applicant has no documented work history, the employer provides a signed confirmation letter — and the formal experience requirement no longer applies to that applicant.
In other words, with such a letter from the employer, the three baseline requirements of the program — language, education, and experience — simply don’t apply to the applicant at all.
A signed employer letter replaces three requirements at once — language, education, and work experience — if the applicant lacks the supporting documents.
Language, Education, and Experience Requirements Without an Employer Letter
Without an employer letter, the standard program requirements apply to the applicant.
For language, applicants must confirm a Minimum Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 4 across all four skills at once: writing, listening, speaking, and reading — in English or French. There’s a separate note suggesting that for TEER category 3 or 5 occupations, language confirmation may not be required at all, but this appears only in the agreement between the federal government and New Brunswick — the province’s own official program guide contains no such provision. This discrepancy between the documents hasn’t been resolved, so it’s safest to treat CLB 4 as the operating requirement.
For education, the minimum bar is a completed high school education. If the diploma was earned abroad, it needs to go through an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) — an evaluation of equivalency to Canadian education standards.
For work experience, applicants must confirm a minimum of 1,560 working hours over 12 months within the last five years. This experience doesn’t have to come from a single employer — hours from several companies can be combined, as long as each period is officially documented.
| Requirement | Minimum Threshold |
|---|---|
| Language | CLB 4 in all 4 skills |
| Education | Completed high school (foreign diploma requires an ECA) |
| Work experience | 1,560 hours over 12 months within the last 5 years |
Each of these three thresholds can be waived by an employer letter — that mechanism is explained above.
Requirements for the Job Offer and the Employer
- The employer must be on the list of program participants. A job offer is only accepted from a New Brunswick employer included in the approved list of participating companies — any random regional employer won’t qualify.
- Employment type must be full-time and permanent. The program does not consider seasonal or temporary positions: the offer must be for full-time work with no seasonal character.
- Salary must be at the market rate for the occupation. The wage offered must match the average market pay for that position, not be set below what other offers for the same occupation provide.
- The occupation can be virtually any occupation, as long as the vacancy is open with one of the program’s approved employers — the program does not maintain a separate list of eligible occupations.
- Applicants must demonstrate intent to live permanently in New Brunswick. This is a standard requirement across provincial programs: applicants must show they plan to settle in that specific province, not use it as a stepping stone to another part of Canada.
- If the occupation is regulated, a corresponding professional license is additionally required — this is a separate program condition.
Job Offer and Employer Requirements
Regulated Occupations: When You Need a License
The employer letter replaces language, education, and experience requirements, but it doesn’t waive professional licensing requirements — if an occupation is regulated, authorization to work in that field must be obtained separately.
- Check the occupation’s regulatory status. Go to the Government of Canada’s official occupation classification website, look up your occupation, and check whether it’s regulated specifically in New Brunswick.
- If the occupation is regulated, find out the certification process. There’s no single procedure: each regulated occupation has its own licensing process that must be looked into separately.
- If the occupation isn’t regulated, no additional steps are needed. You can go straight to job hunting with a participating employer.
An example of a regulated occupation is truck driving: before starting with a company, a driver needs a Canadian commercial driver’s license — a license from their home country won’t do.
How to Check Whether Your Occupation Needs a License
Steps to take before starting a job in New Brunswick
- Check the occupation’s status in the Government of Canada classification systemcheck specifically for New Brunswick
- If regulated, find out the certification processeach occupation has its own process
- If not regulated, no additional steps are neededyou can go straight to job hunting with a participating employer
Before job hunting, check the Government of Canada’s occupation classification website to see whether your occupation is regulated in New Brunswick, and if so, look into the licensing process early.
Which Employers Participate in the Program
The Critical Worker Pilot doesn’t work with just any employer in the region — it works with a pre-approved list of companies published by the Government of New Brunswick. These are large corporations in trucking, agriculture, and forestry: it’s employees of these specific companies for whom the language, education, and experience requirements are waived.
The scale of these employers differs noticeably from other Canadian immigration programs. The Atlantic Immigration Program has a much broader list of participating employers — by some estimates, several hundred companies — whereas the Critical Worker Pilot involves literally a handful of specific companies. One of them is comparable in significance to the province’s trucking market as Google or Apple are to their own industry.
One of them is comparable in significance to the province’s trucking market as Google or Apple are to their own industry
Landing a job with one of these specific companies through the program is a stroke of luck: competition for positions is higher, but in exchange, the applicant gets a path to permanent residence without a language exam, diploma verification, or confirmed work history.
If You’re Already in Canada on a Work Visa
If an applicant is already in Canada, they need to maintain legal immigration status all the way through to receiving permanent residence — a gap in status along this path is not acceptable.
a gap in status along this path is not acceptable
This applies, for example, to those currently in Canada on a work permit or on an open work permit for Israelis or Ukrainians. In this situation, it makes sense to go to New Brunswick, look for work directly with one of the program’s participating employers, and apply for the Critical Worker Pilot through that employer — while making sure there’s no break in legal status.
If you’re already in Canada on a work permit, maintain legal status without interruption until you receive permanent residence — this is a mandatory condition of the program.
Frequently asked questions
Can you change employers after getting PR through the Critical Worker Pilot?
There’s no direct answer to this question. The program requires confirming an intent to live permanently in New Brunswick specifically and obtaining an offer from a specific approved employer at the application stage, but what happens to the freedom to change employers after permanent residence is granted is not specified.
Can you apply if the employer is only willing to write a letter for one of the three requirements — for example, only for language?
Yes: the employer letter for each of the three requirements — language, education, and experience — is issued separately, and nothing indicates they must be used only all together. If the employer waives only one threshold by letter, the applicant needs to meet the standard program requirements for the other two: CLB 4, completed high school education, and 1,560 working hours over 12 months within the last 5 years.
What if my occupation isn’t among the job openings of approved employers?
The program doesn’t maintain a separate list of eligible occupations — the occupation can be virtually any occupation, as long as a vacancy for it is open with one of the approved participating employers. If none of them has a suitable vacancy, applying through the Critical Worker Pilot won’t be possible: the key condition is precisely having an offer from such an employer.
Does the legal status requirement in Canada apply to those applying from abroad?
No, this requirement applies specifically to those already in Canada at the time of application — for example, on a work permit or on an open work permit for Israelis or Ukrainians. For them, it’s important not to let their legal status lapse until they receive permanent residence.
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