Planning a vacation? Here’s how time off may impact your Canadian work experience requirement for PR

If you’re counting down the weeks of Canadian work experience you need for permanent residence (PR), booking time off can raise a question: Will this delay my eligibility?

Luckily, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) generally allows a reasonable period of vacation when calculating qualifying Canadian work experience under Express Entry's Canadian Experience Class (CEC)—but there are some factors to consider.

CEC eligibility is based on skilled work experience in Canada that totals at least 1,560 hours (equivalent to 30 hours per week for 12 months) within the three years before you apply. Time off may or may not impact how your work period is counted under CEC.

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This article will examine whether time off—whether through statutory holidays, vacations, and longer absences—will count toward your CEC work experience requirements, as well as how remote work for a Canadian employer factors in.

Statutory holidays

Statutory holidays are designated days when employees are typically entitled to a day off with pay, depending on the rules that apply to their job and jurisdiction.

From an immigration perspective, statutory holidays are counted as part of CEC work experience.

That means that you can count that day as part of Canadian work experience even if you were not working on the day.

There are five statutory holidays nationwide, which include

• New Year’s Day;
• Good Friday;
• Canada Day;
• Labour Day; and
• Christmas Day

Federally regulated employees are entitled to additional statutory holidays, which include

• Easter Monday;
• Victoria Day or National Patriot's Day;
• Truth and Reconciliation Day;
• Thanksgiving Day;
• Remembrance Day; and
• Boxing Day.

Each province and territory has its own statutory holidays as well, such as Islander Day for PEI workers or Nunavut Day for Nunavut residents. 

Vacation of up to about two weeks

IRCC guidance for officers states that reasonable vacation periods are usually included when assessing qualifying work experience, with a common example being a 2-week paid vacation in a 52-week period of qualifying employment.

So, if you take a typical two-week vacation—whether inside Canada or outside Canada—this is commonly treated as part of your Canadian work experience requirement, provided you were engaged in qualifying Canadian work experience and remain authorized to work.

If the vacation is unpaid, however, this means it will not count toward the required hours to meet CEC work requirements.

Vacation longer than two weeks

If you’re planning a longer trip—say 3 or 4 weeks—this can be more ambiguous.

IRCC’s officer guidance emphasizes that while a reasonable vacation allowance may be made, each application is assessed on its own merits, and officers make a final decision based on the information available at the time.

Note that this work would have to be paid for an officer to even consider it as counting toward CEC work requirements.

If your plan involves an extended vacation, the safest approach is often to build in a buffer—work additional weeks beyond the bare minimum before you submit your PR application so you’re not right on the edge of eligibility.

Longer absences and leave (including parental leave)

Time away from work—whether due to unpaid leave, extended time off, or parental/maternity leave)—does not count toward the 1,560-hour requirement.

Even if you remain “employed” on paper, you may still need more calendar time after you return to work to reach the hours required.

Because of that, applicants who take longer leaves may wish to wait until they have clearly exceeded the minimum work experience threshold before submitting an application.

Working remotely from outside Canada for a Canadian employer

If you plan to spend an extended period abroad and continue working for your Canadian employer remotely during that time, note that this experience will not be recognized as Canadian work experience.

This is due to the way IRCC’s defines qualifying Canadian work experience for the purpose of meeting CEC work experience requirements.

Canadian work experience must be gained while you’re part of the Canadian labour market. According to IRCC, this means you must be physically present in Canada and working for a Canadian employer.

Consequently, if you’re outside Canada, the period you spend working abroad will not count toward the 1,560-hour CEC requirement, even if your employer is Canadian.

Officers may allow a reasonable vacation period when calculating qualifying work experience, but that allowance can’t be used to treat time spent working outside Canada as though it were time worked in Canada.

CEC skilled work experience criteria

To count as skilled work experience under the Canadian Experience Class, your work experience must:

• Fall under *TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system;
  • Your experience can be in more than one NOC.
• Be gained by working in Canada while authorized to work under temporary resident status;
  • If you worked remotely, you must have been physically in Canada and working for a Canadian employer.
• Show that you performed the actions in the lead statement of the NOC job description and most of the main duties listed;
• Be paid work (wages or commission—unpaid internships and volunteer work don’t count); and
• Total at least one year / 1,560 hours (equivalent to 30 hours per week) in the three years before you apply.

*Under Canada’s NOC system, occupations are ranked across six TEER levels (0–5) according to the Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities they require, ranging from TEER 0 (highest-skilled) to TEER 5 (lowest-skilled).

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