42204 Religion workers

What this occupation covers

Religion workers include brothers, nuns, monks, religious education workers and others who provide support to ministers of religion or to a religious community and who perform certain functions associated with the practice of a religion. They may perform these duties in churches, synagogues, temples or other places of worship; in institutions such as schools, hospitals and prisons; or in industrial facilities, corporate enterprises; or they may work in private practice.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 5 main duties for this code.

• Assist at services of public worship and religious rites
• Provide religious education, spiritual guidance and moral support to members of a religious community
• Conduct outreach activities and facilitate community involvement
• Administer programs providing food, clothing and shelter
• May plan, organize and lead worship services and church activities for a specific audience.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 5 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 31102 General practitioners and family physicians
• 41302 Religious leaders

Excluded from this code

• Medical missionary (See 31102 General practitioners and family physicians)
• Religious leaders (See 41302 Religious leaders)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

animator - spiritual guidance · brother/sister - religion · cantor · Christian Science nurse - non-medical · Christian science practitioner · Christian science worker · church worker · corporate intercessor · deacon · deaconess · exegete · faith healer · gospel worker · hazzan · home mission worker - religion · missionary · mohel · monk · mother superior/religious superior · novice - religion · nun · panthee · pastoral animator · postulant

Employment requirements

• Completion of college, university or other program in religious studies may be required, depending on the particular occupation and religion.
• There may be other employment requirements depending on the particular occupation and religion.