Effective November 16, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will switch to the National Occupation Classification (NOC) Version 2021.
The NOC Version 2021 will come into force this week, replacing the existing structure (NOC 0, A, B, C, and D) with the Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities (TEER) categories. The occupation codes will have five digits instead of the existing system of 4 digit occupation codes.
The new categorization under TEER will help IRCC classify requirements to suit jobs more effectively. The existing system of the NOC has more emphasis on education, while the TEER categorization system will focus more on job requirements besides education credentials.
Highlights of Canada’s NOC system
National Occupation Classification is the method of job classification while determining the eligibility of immigrants applying through Canada’s skilled immigration programs. The responsibility to develop the National Occupation Classification (NOC) rests with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). The NSDC constantly strives to bring better relevance to the NOC for classifying jobs. It reviews the system every five years.
The new NOC 2021 is the recent version to replace NOC 2016 with effect from November 16, 2022. There are six levels, from 0 to 5, in the NOC 2021 TEER Version 1.0. All TEER categories from TEER 1 to TEER 5 differ from NOC skill types in the existing system. TEER 0 is identical to NOC Type 0.
