All 516 NOC 2021 Codes, Analyzed: Which Occupations Structurally Qualify for Express Entry

What we did

"You need TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3." Every Express Entry explainer says it, and it is correct. Almost none of them say what that rule actually excludes, or where the exclusions land.

So we classified the whole classification. All 516 unit groups published in NOC 2021 Version 1.0 were sorted by their TEER digit and by their broad occupational category, then checked against the structural skilled-work requirement that the Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Worker Program share.

No sampling and no estimation. The NOC is a closed, published list, so this is a census of it rather than a survey.

One thing to be clear about before the numbers: this is about the occupation, not about a person. Meeting the TEER requirement is one factor among several — language, education, and program-specific rules all apply too — and clearing it does not mean an application would be accepted.

The headline number

376 of 516 unit groups (72.9%) are TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3. The remaining 140 (27.1%) are TEER 4 or 5, and work experience in those occupations does not, on its own, meet the structural requirement for either program.

The full distribution:

TEER 2 is the single largest tier in the classification, and it sits inside the eligible range. That is most of why the eligible share is as high as it is.

Where the 140 exclusions actually land

This is the part the "TEER 0–3" shorthand hides. Structural eligibility is not spread evenly — it is close to universal in some broad categories and rare in others.

Three categories clear the bar completely. Every unit group in the sciences, in health, and in legislative and senior management is TEER 0–3 — there is no such thing as a TEER 4 health occupation in NOC 2021.

At the other end, occupations in manufacturing and utilities clear it 28% of the time.

The concentration finding

Two categories carry most of the exclusion between them:

• Manufacturing and utilities: 49 of the 140 ineligible unit groups (35%).
• Sales and service: 34 of 140 (24%).

Together that is 83 of 140 — 59% of every structurally ineligible occupation in the classification, out of two of the ten categories.

Business, finance and administration contributes 18, and so do trades, transport and equipment operators. The remaining six categories contribute 21 between them.

That matters practically. If your work is in the sciences, health, or a regulated profession, the TEER question is close to a formality and your attention belongs on the other eligibility factors. If your work is in manufacturing, utilities, retail, or food service, the TEER digit is the first thing worth checking, because it is the factor most likely to be decisive — and it is decisive before anything else about you is considered.

Trades are a specific exception worth naming

Trades, transport and equipment operators looks middling in the table at 81%, but the Federal Skilled Trades Program does not use the general TEER rule at all. It has its own published list of eligible trade occupations. An occupation can be outside a general TEER 0–3 reading and still appear on that list, and the only reliable way to check is the official list itself, not a TEER digit.

How to read your own code

The five digits of a NOC code are a hierarchy, not a serial number:

• Digit 1 — the broad occupational category, one of the ten in the table above.
• Digit 2 — the TEER. This is the digit the eligibility rule turns on.
• Digits 1–4 — the minor group, the family of closely-related occupations.
• All 5 — the unit group, the specific occupation.

So the TEER is readable directly off the second digit of your own code. NOC 21211 is TEER 1. NOC 65100 is TEER 5.

We verified this holds across the entire classification: the second digit matches the published TEER for all 516 unit groups, with no exceptions.

Method and limits

Dataset. National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 Version 1.0 — all 516 unit groups, as published by Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada.

Method. Each unit group was classified by its TEER digit and broad-category digit, then cross-tabulated against the TEER 0–3 structural requirement stated on the IRCC eligibility pages for the Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Counts are computed from the classification directly, so they are reproducible from the public source.

What this does not tell you. It is a structural analysis of occupations, not of applicants or of outcomes. It says nothing about how many people hold each occupation, how many apply under it, how any category-based round selects, or what CRS score any occupation implies — a CRS score depends on the applicant, not the occupation. It does not cover Provincial Nominee Programs, which set their own occupation lists, or the Federal Skilled Trades Program, which as noted uses its own list rather than a general TEER rule.

Currency. The NOC is revised periodically. These figures describe Version 1.0 as current on 26 July 2026.

Look up your own occupation

Every occupation in our published careers directory shows its official TEER, where it sits in this hierarchy, and how large its TEER cohort is — sourced to the NOC profile it comes from.

Navisa is not a lawyer, RCIC, or immigration representative. This analysis describes public classification and program-structure information. It does not assess an individual's eligibility, predict an outcome, or replace the judgment of a licensed professional reviewing your situation.

Navisa publishes public-information and product-workflow references. Navisa is not a lawyer, RCIC, or immigration representative; no Insight article gives legal advice or guarantees an immigration outcome.