# Is my work experience enough to challenge the certificate exam?



## medina (Apr 28, 2019)

Hi, this is kind of a two-fold question.

I'm trying to emigrate to canada and PNP programs need a certificate of qualification to be accepted. I have about 4800 hours of work I can refference for in the field from an Argentine employer but aside from my Argentine electrician license (which seems it ain't worth squat for this) I have no other qualification aside from a high school diploma and an IELTS score of 8.


So in short my enquiries would be:

What's the difference between a red seal and a certificate of qualification?

Can I realistically be accepted to challenge the exam with only 4800 work hours?

What are the best provinces for me to try and do the exam for?



Thank you for your help guys, I hope I was clear enough


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Welcome aboard @medina!

Have you contacted any of the Canadian licensing boards or agencies?

Hopefully some of our Canadian members will be along to help you shortly.


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## Rora (Jan 31, 2017)

medina said:


> What's the difference between a red seal and a certificate of qualification?
> 
> Can I realistically be accepted to challenge the exam with only 4800 work hours?
> 
> What are the best provinces for me to try and do the exam for?


A qualification certificate is the journeyman ticket equivalent based on hours or some other exterior qualification (including tickets from outside Canada) rather than a completed local apprenticeship. The Red Seal is a completely separate qualification, it allows your journeyman ticket or qualification certificate to be recognized in any province rather than just the one where it was granted.

Each province will have its own information but here's Alberta:

https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/experiencedworkers/qualification-certificate/

Your license may be considered as "recognized trade certificate" but if it isn't, you can still qualify via hours (qualification certification based on work experience). The hours required are quite a bit higher than what's needed for an apprenticeship. You'll have to contact the provincial apprenticeship organizations to find out the exact number... but, for example, getting a qualification certificate for I&C in Alberta requires 9,000+ vs the 6,000+ through the apprenticeship route.

First, you should contact all the provincial apprenticeship organizations... this is the only place to get reliable information for your specific situation. See if any will recognize you based on the license alone. If they say they won't, while you're still on the phone, find out the number of hours required for the qualification certificate. If none accept the license, pick the one with the lowest hourly requirement.

They're all slightly different, but once you meet one of those two criteria you'll have to take an exam or two before you get a qualification certificate. You need to focus on obtaining this first, then you can move on to the Red Seal which will allow said qualification certificate to be recognized across Canada.


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## phamousgrey (Mar 22, 2018)

as far as ontario and the 'ontario college of trades' is concerned, 309A construction and maintenance electrician is a Red Seal Trade. i'm not entirely sure how that applies to your situation, but as a 309A so n so, having passed that 'C of Q' test as they call it up here, i can work anywhere in canada. for trades that are not 'red seal trades', they either dont need to be nationally certified or each province has its own specific licensing exam [some trades...if you can call them that dont require examination, just some "diploma/certificate" saying you know how to cut hair]


lol..lmfao


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