Does part-time or self-employed work count toward my 1 year of CEC work experience?
Part-time work counts — the Canadian Experience Class requires 1,560 hours of skilled Canadian work within the last 3 years, capped at 30 hours per week, so 15 hours a week for two years qualifies exactly the same as full-time for one. Self-employment generally does not count toward CEC at all: the regulations explicitly exclude any period of self-employment from the calculation.
The 1,560-hour rule, exactly
IRCC defines one year of full-time work as 30 hours per week for 12 months (1,560 hours). The critical detail: no more than 30 hours per week can be counted, no matter how many hours you actually worked.
| Your schedule | How long to reach 1,560 hours |
|---|---|
| 30 hrs/week (full-time) | 12 months |
| 20 hrs/week | ~18 months |
| 15 hrs/week | ~24 months |
| 40 hrs/week | Still 12 months — the extra 10 hrs/week are ignored |
You can combine multiple employers and multiple TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 roles — every job just needs to independently qualify, and the 30-hour weekly cap applies to your total across all jobs, not per job.
What counts and what doesn't
| Counts | Doesn't count |
|---|---|
| Part-time paid work (pro-rated by hours) | Self-employment (any period of it) |
| Multiple employers combined | Work done while a full-time student |
| Different TEER 0–3 occupations | Unpaid or volunteer work |
| Paid, authorized skilled work | Unauthorized work |
| TEER 4 or 5 jobs |
The experience must also have been gained within the 3 years before you apply, in an occupation classified TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3, and you must have been legally authorized to work.
The self-employment trap
Section 87.1(3)(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations states that any period of self-employment shall not be included in calculating CEC work experience. Officers apply an employment test — they look at who controls how and when the work is done, who provides the tools, who bears the financial risk, and whether you could subcontract the work. Their key documentary evidence is the employer-employee paper trail: T4 slips, CRA Notices of Assessment, pay stubs, and employer reference letters.
This is where contractors get hurt. If you worked as an "independent contractor" with T4A slips instead of T4s, for one client, on their schedule, IRCC may well classify that period as self-employment and discard the hours. There is one narrow carve-out: a temporary public policy lets certain self-employed physicians providing publicly funded medical services count their experience — it does not extend to anyone else.
Also note the language gate, which is separate from hours: CEC requires CLB 7 in all four abilities for TEER 0 or 1 occupations, and CLB 5 for TEER 2 or 3.
Frequently asked questions
I worked 20 hours a week for 18 months — does that count?
20 × 78 weeks = 1,560 hours — yes, exactly one year of full-time equivalent. Just make sure the work was in a TEER 0–3 occupation, paid, authorized, and within the last 3 years.
Can I combine a full-time job with a side part-time job to finish faster?
You can combine them, but you can't finish faster: the 30-hour weekly cap applies to your combined hours. Two jobs at 20 hours each still only bank 30 hours per week.
I was paid as a contractor with T4A slips, not T4s — is that self-employment?
In IRCC's eyes, very likely yes. If you can't produce evidence of a genuine employer-employee relationship (employer reference letter, T4, pay stubs), don't count those hours toward CEC — and don't claim them in your profile.
Sources
- Entry source: https://www.cicnews.com/2026/08/ircc-releases-updated-distribution-of-candidate-scores-in-the-express-entry-pool-0878899.html
- IRCC Help Centre — work experience rules including the self-employment exclusion: https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1132&top=
- IRCC program guidance on determining employment vs. self-employment for CEC (R87.1(3)(b)): https://meurrensonimmigration.com/self-employment-and-the-canadian-experience-class-2/
- CEC work-experience breakdown (1,560 hours, 30-hour cap, combining employers): https://mygration.ca/canadian-experience-class-cec-requirements/