Red Seal Completion Bonus: finished your apprenticeship and certified in a Red Seal trade? You can apply to the federal government for $5,000

1. A few terms first: Red Seal, apprentice, journeyperson, certification date

What Red Seal is. According to the Red Seal website, a Red Seal endorsement is a seal on your provincial trade certificate. It shows that you have the knowledge and skills to work in that trade anywhere in Canada. To get the Red Seal endorsement, you must pass the Red Seal exam. Not every trade has a Red Seal. The national list of Red Seal trades currently has 54; the last section of this guide lists them all.

Some Red Seal trades have a different name in B.C. For example, the Red Seal trade Cook is called Professional Cook 3 in B.C., and the Red Seal trade Construction Craft Worker is called Construction Craft Worker (Labourer) in B.C. Do not let the different names confuse you when you look at your certificate.

What an apprentice is. The federal site defines an apprentice as a person who works in a trade and is registered as an apprentice with the provincial apprenticeship authority. Apprentices learn on the job from experienced tradespeople, and usually also attend technical training at a school at some point. In B.C., the organization that registers apprentices and issues certificates is SkilledTradesBC. SkilledTradesBC says apprentices spend about 80% of their time learning on the job and about 20% in the classroom; the federal site says most apprentices take 3 to 5 years to finish.

Registered apprentice. The federal site defines this as a person registered with the provincial apprenticeship authority in an apprenticeship program for a Red Seal trade. The apprenticeship authority gives you an apprenticeship registration number, which confirms that you are a registered apprentice. In B.C., you first need an employer who agrees to sponsor you, and then you register with SkilledTradesBC. SkilledTradesBC also says that to be an apprentice you must be legally entitled to work in Canada.

How to become an apprentice. In B.C., you and your sponsor register your apprenticeship together in the SkilledTradesBC Portal; only your sponsor can report your hours, you register for technical training at an approved school yourself, and after you score 70% or higher on the certification exam, your sponsor still has to recommend you before you are certified. For how to find an employer and a sponsor, where the money comes from while you are in class, and how many exam attempts you get and what they cost, see Guide No. 65.

→ No. 65 · Becoming an apprentice in B.C.

Journeyperson. The federal site defines a journeyperson as a skilled tradesperson who has met the certification requirements for the trade and received a Certificate of Qualification, or an equivalent credential, from the provincial apprenticeship authority. In plain terms, you are fully qualified in your trade.

Do not mix up the two certificates.

• Certificate of Qualification, or CoQ: shows that you passed certification and are a qualified journeyperson.
• Certificate of Apprenticeship: shows that you completed the whole apprenticeship program as an apprentice.

Certification date. This is the day you were officially certified as a journeyperson in the trade. This date decides whether you qualify and your last day to apply (section 4). The federal site does not explain exactly how this date is determined. Your certificates and the notices SkilledTradesBC sent you are the first place to look; if you are unsure, ask SkilledTradesBC. Section 6 shows what to say.

Related: an apprentice in B.C. is also an employee. For how to read your pay and protect your rights, see Working in B.C.: how to read your pay and protect your rights.

2. What the bonus is: how much, and when you can apply

Name. The official name is the Red Seal Completion Bonus. It is part of the federal government's Team Canada Strong plan and is run by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). For questions, contact Service Canada.

How much. $5,000 for each eligible Red Seal certification.

Which certifications count. Only certifications obtained on or after April 1, 2025. If you were certified on or before March 31, 2025, this bonus does not cover you.

When you can apply. Applications open on November 16, 2026. The federal news release of October 23 says the online application portal opens then, and you can prepare now.

Two trades, two bonuses. The official site says you can receive one bonus for each Red Seal trade in which you completed an apprenticeship and were certified. For example, if you were certified as a Carpenter in June 2025 and then as a Plumber in December 2026, that is two bonuses, $10,000 in total. Each has its own deadline (section 4). The Certificate of Apprenticeship and the Certificate of Qualification for the same trade are one set of proof, so one trade counts only once.

Is there a limit? Neither the bonus website nor the October 23 news release says how many bonuses one person can receive or what the maximum total is.

It is not the old grant. The federal government used to have an Apprenticeship Completion Grant (ACG) of $2,000 per person, once in a lifetime. It closed on March 31, 2025, and you can no longer apply for it. The new bonus looks at your certification date: if it is on or before March 31, 2025, the new bonus does not cover you. If you finished your apprenticeship program on or before March 31, 2025 but your certification date is on or after April 1, 2025, the official site does not address that case separately; call the Service Canada line to ask (section 9). Section 10 covers the other apprenticeship supports.

3. Who qualifies: you must meet all four conditions

First, your status. You must be one of the following three:

• a Canadian citizen;
• a permanent resident (PR);
• a protected person, meaning someone designated by the Immigration and Refugee Board or the federal immigration department (IRCC) because they have reason to fear persecution in their country of origin.

If you only hold a study permit or a work permit and none of these three statuses, you do not meet the status condition on the official site.

Second, you are not a high school student. You cannot be a regular full-time high school student. People enrolled in adult learning or professional upgrading classes do not count as high school students here.

Third, you completed your apprenticeship as a registered apprentice and were certified. You need both:

• you completed the apprenticeship program for the trade as a registered apprentice;
• you were certified as a journeyperson in that trade.

The trade must also be a Red Seal trade designated by the province where you registered as an apprentice. If you registered in B.C., what matters is whether B.C. has designated the trade as a Red Seal trade. The official site points you to the list of trades on the Red Seal website; section 11 also shows how to use the Ellis Chart to see whether B.C. offers the Red Seal for your trade.

Fourth, you apply on time with all documents. Apply before your deadline (section 4) and submit all the proof required by the province where you were certified (section 5).

Based on the conditions on the official site, these situations probably do not qualify:

• You only have a college diploma, a foundation program certificate, or only an exam transcript. The official site requires two things: completing an apprenticeship program as a registered apprentice, and being certified as a journeyperson. A school credential alone is not enough.
• You challenged the certification exam based on years of experience. In B.C. this is called a Trade Qualifier, and SkilledTradesBC says this route lets you "become certified without going through an apprenticeship program". The official site requires completion as a registered apprentice, so people who took this route do not qualify under the conditions as written. If you later became a registered apprentice and completed the apprenticeship program, your situation is different; call the Service Canada line first to confirm (section 9).
• You were certified in another province or another country and later got a B.C. certificate. The official site does not address this case separately; call the Service Canada line (section 9).

One point that is unclear. The official site says you must complete an apprenticeship and be certified in a "designated Red Seal trade". It does not say separately that you must have the Red Seal endorsement. If you have a Certificate of Qualification and are not sure whether you have the Red Seal endorsement, call the line before you apply.

4. Your last day to apply depends on your certification date

In the official site's words, an "application will only be considered if submitted within these deadlines".

Some examples:

• Certified on May 10, 2025: apply by May 31, 2027.
• Certified on November 15, 2026: also by May 31, 2027.
• Certified on November 16, 2026: within 12 months from that day, that is, until around mid-November 2027. One day makes a different rule apply.
• Certified on December 1, 2026: within 12 months, that is, by early December 2027.

The official site does not say exactly which day the "12 months" end. Do not leave it to the last few days; applying a month or two early is safest.

There is also a 28-day limit. The official site says all supporting documents must be submitted within 28 calendar days of the application date. Calendar days include weekends and holidays. If the documents are not received within 28 days, you have to submit a new application. The site also says applications are only considered if submitted within the deadlines in the table above, so do not let a new application go past your deadline either.

Where the 28 days start is worded differently in two places. The bonus website counts from the "application date"; the October 23 news release counts from "the beginning of an application". It is safest to go by the earlier one: do not wait until you have started to look for your documents; have them ready before you start filling in the application.

For example: you start on November 20 and submit the same day, but you have not uploaded a copy of your Certificate of Qualification yet. You then need to provide it within 28 days, that is, by about December 18, and the sooner the better. The easiest way is to have all the documents in section 5 ready and scanned before you start.

5. What to prepare before you apply

The official site says to have the following ready before you start your application.

1. Personal information

• Social Insurance Number (SIN). You can find it on your SIN card, your SIN confirmation letter, or your income tax documents.
• Mailing address.
• Email address: optional, but the official site recommends giving one.
• Direct deposit information: financial institution number, branch (transit) number and account number. These three numbers are printed at the bottom of a cheque and can also be found in online banking; if you do not have a chequing account, ask your bank. Service Canada recommends signing up for direct deposit and says it is the fastest and most reliable way to receive payments.

2. Apprenticeship information

• your certification date;
• your province or territory of certification;
• your apprentice identification number;
• the Red Seal trade name.

Section 6 explains where to find these in B.C.

3. Electronic copies of your documents

The official site asks you to have electronic copies of your supporting documents ready before you apply, so you can upload them as part of the application. It does not say which file format to use; a clear scan where every word is readable is safest.

4. Proof of status, for some applicants

Protected persons whose SIN does not start with 9: take note. The "personal information" part of the official site says you must provide proof of status if your SIN begins with 9 or you are a protected person; but the itemized list further down only says what protected persons whose SIN starts with 9 must provide. The two do not match. In this case, call the Service Canada line first (section 9). You can ask: "I'm a protected person and my SIN doesn't start with 9. Do I need to upload proof of status for the Red Seal Completion Bonus? Which document is accepted?"

5. Copies of your certificates, depending on where you were certified

The official site lists the certificates to submit by the province or territory of certification. If you were certified in B.C.:

• most trades: a copy of your Certificate of Apprenticeship and a copy of your Certificate of Qualification;
• Welder A and Welder B: a copy of your Certificate of Qualification and a copy of your Confirmation of Apprenticeship Completion letter.

If you were certified elsewhere, see this table (certificate names are as written on the official site, so you can compare them with your own):

Lost or damaged certificates (B.C.). SkilledTradesBC's forms page has a Request for Document Replacement form for replacing lost, stolen or damaged certificates, wallet cards, registration cards and logbooks. A replacement takes time and the 28-day limit for documents is short, so gather or replace your certificates first, then start the application.

6. How to find your certification date, apprentice number and trade in B.C.

Start with the certificates you have. Your Certificate of Qualification, your Certificate of Apprenticeship, and the letters and emails SkilledTradesBC sent you are your first-hand records. Put them together and check them against the four items you need in section 5: certification date, province of certification, apprentice identification number and trade name.

What the apprentice number is. The federal site says the provincial apprenticeship authority gives each registered apprentice an apprenticeship registration number. In B.C., it is the number SkilledTradesBC gave you.

Log in to the SkilledTradesBC Portal to check your records. SkilledTradesBC has an online account called the Portal, available 24 hours a day. According to SkilledTradesBC, in the Portal you can see how many hours you still need for certification, schedule exams, see exam results and submit requests to customer service. SkilledTradesBC calls a request through the Portal "the fastest and easiest way" to get results.

Call SkilledTradesBC.

• Phone: 778-328-8700; toll-free within B.C.: 1-866-660-6011
• Email: customerservice@skilledtradesbc.ca
• Customer service hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (B.C. time)

When you call, you can say: "Hi, I'm applying for the federal Red Seal Completion Bonus. Could you confirm my certification date and my apprentice identification number? My name is ___, and my trade is ___."

Verify a certificate online. The SkilledTradesBC website has a tool to verify a tradesperson's certification. Enter the name, certificate number and trade, and it shows whether the person is certified in B.C., in which trade, and whether they hold a Certificate of Qualification or a Red Seal. It cannot check certificates from other provinces, and the results it describes do not include the certification date, so for the date you still need your certificate or customer service.

Certified outside B.C. Check with the apprenticeship authority of the province or territory where you were certified. The Red Seal website has a list of all provincial and territorial apprenticeship authorities, with phone numbers.

Related: for how to prepare before you call a government line and how to reach a person, see Government of Canada phone lines: how to find and call them.

7. How to apply from November 16

1. Start from the bonus home page. Once applications open on November 16, look for the way to apply on the bonus home page. The federal news release says the online application portal opens on November 16.

2. Fill in the form one item at a time. Complete every required field (the items in section 5).

3. Upload your documents. Upload the certificate copies required by your province of certification, and your proof of status if you need it. The official site says an application is complete when all required fields are filled in; a paper application is completed in ink and signed; and valid proof of completing an apprenticeship and certification in a Red Seal trade, issued by the province where you were certified, is included.

4. Keep records. Save the date you submitted, the confirmation page and screenshots showing your uploads went through. You will need them if you later call about your application or send more documents.

5. Missing documents: provide them within 28 days. See section 4.

Paper applications. The glossary on the official site mentions that a paper application must be completed in ink and signed. But as of November 3, the site does not say where to get a paper form or where to send it. If you want to apply on paper, check the site again after November 16 or call the line.

How long until you are paid. As of November 3, the bonus website does not say how long processing takes or when the money arrives. Service Canada only says direct deposit is the fastest and most reliable way to receive payments.

Be careful with people offering to apply for you. The bonus website does not mention any application fee. If someone says they can apply for you but wants money first, or asks for your SIN or banking information, stop and call the Service Canada line to check.

8. Do you have to report it on your tax return?

Prepare as if you do. Here is what three official sources say:

• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rules for payers (updated October 22, 2026): the organization that pays the bonus must report it in code 130 of a T4A slip. In other words, under this rule you should receive a T4A slip after you are paid. The site makes no separate promise, so go by what you actually receive.
• Draft tax amendments released by the Department of Finance in July 2026: they say the bonus counts as income in the year you receive it, and they require tax to be withheld when it is paid. The draft says it takes effect on April 28, 2026. It is a draft, and comments were accepted until September 4, 2026; as of November 3, we could not confirm whether it has been passed.
• CRA's T4A page for individuals (version of January 30, 2026): amounts in box 130 of a T4A go on line 13000 (other income) of your return. That page still describes only the old apprenticeship grants and does not yet mention the new bonus.

An example. If the draft is passed as currently written: if the money arrives in December 2026, it is 2026 income, which you report when you file your 2026 return in spring 2027; if it arrives in January 2027, it is 2027 income.

You may receive less than $5,000. The draft requires tax to be withheld at payment, so the deposit may be a little less than $5,000. To see how much was withheld, check the amount deposited and your T4A slip. Any difference is settled when you file your return: you get a refund or pay the rest.

Keep your T4A. Use the slip when you file your return. If CRA has updated its guidance for individuals by then, follow CRA's guidance for that year.

Related: for the basics of tax-saving accounts and investing, see Saving tax and investing: getting started.

9. Who to call with questions

About the bonus (eligibility, missing documents, payment): call the Service Canada bonus line.

Why winter and summer differ. From November 1, 2026, B.C. no longer sets its clocks back and stays on Pacific time (UTC-7) all year, while Eastern Time still changes, so the gap between them shifts: 2 hours in winter and 3 hours in summer. Winter means the months when Eastern Time is on standard time, from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March; the rest of the year is summer. The B.C. times in the table are for most of B.C.

• No agents are available on statutory holidays.
• If you use sign language video relay, download the Canada Video Relay Service (VRS) app, register, and find the bonus line in the app's directory. If you use another relay service, call the toll-free number above.
• You can also ask in person at any Service Canada Centre. Use the official office finder to find the one nearest you.

When you call, you can start like this: "Hi, I'm calling about the Red Seal Completion Bonus. I got my certification in British Columbia on ___. I'd like to check if I'm eligible and which documents I need."

About your certificates (certification date, apprentice number, replacements): contact the authority that issued them. For a B.C. certificate, contact SkilledTradesBC (section 6); for a certificate from another province, contact that province's apprenticeship authority (the Red Seal website has a list).

Related: Government of Canada phone lines: how to find and call them.

10. How it differs from other apprenticeship supports

An apprentice loan is borrowed money and must be repaid. The official site says you do not make payments and no interest is charged until you finish or leave your apprenticeship program.

11. The 54 Red Seal trades, and whether B.C. offers the Red Seal for yours

Check the Ellis Chart first. The Ellis Chart is the Red Seal program's trades comparison chart. For each trade, it shows which provinces and territories offer certification, an apprenticeship program and the Red Seal endorsement. How to search:

1. Open the Ellis Chart;
2. Under "Red Seal Trade", select "Yes";
3. Under "Province/Territory that offers the Red Seal Endorsement", select "BC";
4. See whether your trade is in the results, then click the trade name for details.

B.C. has 50. Of the 54 Red Seal trades, B.C. offers the Red Seal endorsement for 50, according to the Ellis Chart. For these 4, the Ellis Chart shows that B.C. does not offer the Red Seal endorsement:

• Heavy Equipment Operator (Dozer)
• Heavy Equipment Operator (Excavator)
• Heavy Equipment Operator (Tractor-Loader-Backhoe)
• Ironworker (Structural/Ornamental)

If you registered as an apprentice in B.C. in one of these trades, call the Service Canada line before you apply.

Note one difference. The Ellis Chart tells you whether B.C. offers the Red Seal endorsement for a trade; the bonus website requires that the province where you registered as an apprentice designated the trade as a Red Seal trade. These are very likely the same thing, but the official site does not say so. If you are unsure about your trade in B.C., call the line to be safe.

The list. When you fill in the application, go by the English name on the Red Seal website and the name on your certificate.

12. Checklist before you start

• Your certification date is on or after April 1, 2025; write down your deadline (May 31, 2027, or 12 months from your certification date).
• You are a citizen, PR or protected person, and not a full-time high school student.
• You completed your apprenticeship as a registered apprentice and were certified; you did not challenge the exam directly.
• Your trade is a Red Seal trade in B.C. (or in the province where you registered as an apprentice), checked on the Red Seal list of trades and the Ellis Chart; if unsure, call the line.
• SIN, mailing address, email, financial institution number, branch number and account number ready.
• Certification date, province of certification, apprentice identification number and the English trade name ready; if unsure, ask SkilledTradesBC.
• Your B.C. Certificate of Apprenticeship and Certificate of Qualification scanned (for Welder A and Welder B, the Certificate of Qualification and the Confirmation of Apprenticeship Completion letter); replace any lost certificate first.
• If you are a PR or protected person and your SIN starts with 9: proof of status scanned; protected persons whose SIN does not start with 9: ask the line first.
• From November 16, apply from the bonus home page; save the confirmation page and the date; provide any missing documents within 28 days.
• Keep your T4A slip when it arrives and use it when you file your return.
• If someone wants money first to apply for you, call 1-866-742-3644 first.

Related guides

• → No. 13 · Rights at work
  An apprentice in B.C. is also an employee. This guide explains pay, overtime and unpaid wages.
• → No. 7 · Phone directory
  How to prepare before you call government lines such as Service Canada and the CRA, and what to do if you cannot get through.
• → No. 15 · Saving tax & investing
  Prepare as if the bonus is taxable (section 8 of this guide). That guide covers the basics of tax-saving accounts and investing.
• → No. 65 · Becoming an apprentice in B.C.
  Becoming an apprentice in B.C.: finding an employer and a sponsor, registering in the SkilledTradesBC Portal, how hours are reported and how to register for technical training, EI, WorkBC support and apprentice loans while you are in class, how many exam attempts you get and what they cost, and how experienced workers can certify directly.
• → No. 66 · Joining the Canadian Armed Forces and paid education
  Another way to learn technical skills while being paid: the Canadian Armed Forces' NCMSTEP pays for you to study full time in a program that matches a military occupation, with pay from the day you join; but you are a member of the military while you study, you must serve for a period based on how long you studied, and two official pages disagree on whether permanent residents can apply, so ask a recruiting centre first (section 8).

Main official links in this guide

These are the official pages used most in this guide. All were opened and checked on November 3, 2026. Other links are at the end of each section.