The Express Entry is an online immigration application used by the IRCC to manage applications of skilled workers who want to Immigrate to Canada as a skilled professional. The Express Entry allows applicants to apply for living and working in Canada by becoming permanent residents in less than a year.
It allows people to submit a profile and be considered as a skilled immigrant. Candidates with the highest rankings are invited to apply for permanent residency.
What is Express Entry?
Express Entry is an online immigration application system. It allows people to submit a profile and be considered as a skilled immigrant. Candidates with the highest rankings are invited to apply for permanent residency.
How does Express Entry work?
- You need to submit a profile for Express Entry, your application will be ranked according to a points system.
- If you are highly ranked, you will be invited to apply for permanent residence as a skilled immigrant.
- Once you have applied, your PR application will then be processed within the next 6 months.
Do I Qualify for Express Entry?
You qualify for Express Entry if you meet the eligibility criteria for the Skilled Worker program, Skilled Trades program, or Canadian Experience Class.
How are Express Entry profile points determined?
Your Express Entry profile will get points based on:
- Your education level;
- Your abilities in English and/or French (Canada’s 2 official languages);
- Your work experience and skills;
- Your age;
- If you have a job offer in Canada; and
- Your spouse’s education, language abilities and work experience.
Additional points are also awarded if you have completed a college or university program in Canada or if you have a provincial nomination.
This chart outlines the points you can get for each category. Please note that EXPRESS ENTRY points are different from the Federal Skilled Worker point system.
How Does EXPRESS ENTRY Choose People for PR?
- Once you submit a profile, your profile will be entered into a pool (group) of all the people who have currently applied for Express Entry.
- You will then be ranked against other people in the pool. Your ranking is based on the number of points you have.
- If you are at the top of the rankings, your profile will be drawn (selected) from the list of applications. You will then get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence as a skilled immigrant.
- Some candidates for Provincial Nominee Program are also selected through Express Entry.
Use the CRS tool to estimate your score.
Which Immigration Programs Does EXPRESS ENTRY Cover?
You must use Express Entry to apply for:
Federal Skilled Worker Program
This program is for skilled workers with foreign work experience who want to immigrate to Canada permanently
How this program works?
This program has minimum requirements for:
- skilled work experience
- language ability
- education
You must meet all the minimum requirements to be eligible.
Selection factors
If you meet all the minimum requirements, then IRCC will assess your application based on:
- age
- education
- work experience
- whether you have a valid job offer
- English and/or French language skills
- adaptability (how well you’re likely to settle here)
These factors are part of a 100-point grid used to assess eligibility for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. You earn points for how well you do in each of the 6 factors.
The current pass mark is 67 points.
How IRCC use selection factor points
IRCC use the selection factor points to assess your eligibility for the Federal Skilled Worker Program.
Once you’re in the Express Entry pool, IRCC will use a different system to rank your profile. They select the highest-ranking candidates from the pool and invite them to apply for permanent residence.
Minimum requirements
Skilled work experience
Skilled work experience means that you’ve worked in 1 of these National Occupational Classification (NOC) job groups:
- Managerial jobs (skill type 0)
- Professional jobs (skill level A)
- Technical jobs and skilled trades (skill level B)
You must show that while working in your primary occupation, you performed the duties set out in the lead statement of the occupational description in the NOC. This includes all the essential duties and most of the main duties listed.
Your skilled work experience must be
- in the same type of job (have the same NOC) as the job you want to use for your immigration application (called your primary occupation)
- within the last 10 years
- paid work (have been paid wages or earned commission—voluntary work or unpaid internships don’t count)
- at least 1 year of continuous work or 1,560 hours total (30 hours per week)—you can meet this in a few different ways
- full-time at 1 job: 30 hours/week for 12 months = 1 year full-time (1,560 hours)
- equal amount in part-time work: for example 15 hours/week for 24 months = 1 year full time (1,560 hours
- You can work as many part-time jobs as you need to meet this requirement
- full-time at more than 1 job: 30 hours/week for 12 months at more than 1 job = 1 year full time (1,560 hours)
Part-time work experience
Your skilled work experience must be paid work including paid wages or earned commission. Voluntary work or unpaid internships will not be counted.
For part-time work, you can work more or less than 15 hours/week as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours. You can work more than 1 part-time job to get the hours you need to apply.
Any hours you work above 30 hours/week will not be counted.
Student work experience
Work experience gained while you were studying may count towards your minimum requirements if the work:
- was paid by wages or commissions
- was continuous (no gaps in employment), and
- meets all the other requirements of the Program
Language ability
You must:
- take approved language tests in English or French for
- writing
- reading
- listening
- speaking
- get a minimum score of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 in all 4 abilities
- enter the test results in your Express Entry profile
Your language tests are valid for 2 years after the date of the test result. They must be valid on the day you apply for permanent residence.
Education
If you went to school in Canada, you must have a certificate, diploma or degree Entry from a Canadian:
- secondary institution (high school) or
- post-secondary institution
If you have foreign education, you must have:
a completed credential, and
an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) for immigration purposes from a designated organization showing that your education is equal to a completed certificate, diploma or degree Entry from a Canadian:
- secondary institution (high school) or
- post-secondary institution
Proof of funds
You must show that you have enough money for you and your family to settle in Canada, unless you:
- are currently able to legally work in Canada
- have a valid job offer from an employer in Canada
Admissibility
You must be admissible to Canada.
Where you can live in Canada
You must plan to live outside the province of Quebec. The province of Quebec selects its own skilled workers. If you plan on living in Quebec, see Quebec-selected skilled workers for more information.
When you fill out your profile, IRCC will ask you where you plan to live in Canada. You don’t have to settle in that province or territory.
If you’re a Provincial Nominee, you must settle in the province or territory that nominated you.
- for skilled workers with foreign work experience
- must meet criteria for education and other factors
Minimum requirements
To be eligible, you must
- meet the required language levels for each language ability
- writing
- reading
- listening
- speaking
- have at least 2 years of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in a skilled trade within the 5 years before you apply
- your work experience must be for paid work (paid wages or earned commission—voluntary work or unpaid internships don’t count)
- certificate of qualification in that skilled trade issued by a Canadian provincial, territorial or federal authority
Skilled work experience
Skilled trades for the Federal Skilled Trades Program are organized under these groups of the National Occupational Classification (NOC):
- Major Group 72, industrial, electrical and construction trades
- Major Group 73, maintenance and equipment operation trades
- Major Group 82, supervisors and technical jobs in natural resources, agriculture and related production
- Major Group 92, processing, manufacturing and utilities supervisors and central control operators
- Minor Group 632, chefs and cooks
- Minor Group 633, butchers and bakers
The major NOC groups are subdivided into different occupations, and they are all skill type B.
You must show that you performed the duties set out in the lead statement of the occupational description in the NOC. This includes all the essential duties and most of the main duties listed.
If you don’t show that your experience meets the description in the NOC, we’ll refuse your application.
Find the NOC code, title and skill type or level for your job
The work experience only counts after you qualified to independently practice the occupation.
Education
There is no education requirement for the Federal Skilled Trades Program. But, if you want to improve your rank in the Express Entry pool, there are 2 ways you can do this.
- If you went to school in Canada, you can get points for a certificate, diploma or degree Entry from a Canadian:
- secondary institution (high school) or
- post-secondary institution
or
- If you have foreign education, you can get points for a completed educational credential, if you have an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report for immigration purposes from a designated organization showing that your education is equal to a completed certificate, diploma or degree Entry from a Canadian:
- secondary institution (high school) or
- post-secondary institution
Language ability
You must
- meet the minimum score of Canadian Language Benchmark 5 for speaking and listening, and Canadian Language Benchmark 4 for reading and writing
- take approved language tests for
- writing
- reading
- listening
- speaking
- enter the test results in your Express Entry profile
Your language tests are valid for 2 years after the date of the test result. They must be valid on the day you apply for permanent residence.
Proof of funds
You must show that you have enough money for you and your family to settle in Canada, unless you
- are currently able to legally work in Canada and
- have a valid job offer from an employer in Canada
Admissibility
You must be admissible to Canada.
Where you can live in Canada
You must plan to live outside the province of Quebec. The province of Quebec selects its own skilled workers. If you plan on living in Quebec, see Quebec-selected skilled workers for more information.
When you fill out your profile, we’ll ask you where you plan to live in Canada. You don’t have to settle in that province or territory.
If you’re a Provincial Nominee, you must settle in the province or territory that nominated you.
Get assessed by the province or territory
You’ll likely have to go to the province or territory to be assessed for your trade. You may also need an employer in Canada to give you experience and training.
To learn more about getting assessed, you should go to the website of the body that governs trades for the province/territory where you would like to live and work. The process is different, depending on where you want to go.
Each website has more details about certificates of qualification to work in that province or territory in a specific skilled trade, and what you have to do to get one.
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia
- Nunavut
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Saskatchewan
- YukonIf your trade is not regulate
If your trade is not regulated by a province or territory, it may be federally regulated (for example, airplane mechanic). You can find out who regulates your trade by visiting the website of the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials.
The Canadian Experience Class is for skilled workers who have Canadian work experience and want to become permanent residents.
- for skilled workers who have Canadian work experience
- work experience must have been gained in the 3 years before you apply
- meet the required language levels needed for your job for each language ability
- writing
- reading
- listening
- speaking
- have at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada, in the last 3 years before you apply—you can meet this in a few different ways:
- full-time at 1 job: 30 hours/wExpress Entryk for 12 months = 1 year full-time (1,560 hours)
- equal amount in part-time work: for example 15 hours/week for 24 months = 1 year full time (1,560 hours)
- You can work as many part-time jobs as you need to meet this requirement.
- full-time work at more than 1 job: 30 hours/week for 12 months at more than 1 job = 1 year full time (1,560 hours)
- have gained your work experience by working in Canada while under temporary resident status with authorization to work
Self-employment and student work experience
Self-employment and work experience gained while you were a full-time student (even if you were on a co-op work term) doesn’t count towards the minimum requirements for this program.
How to apply under Express Entry Canada?
Before your submit an Express Entry Profile, you will need to take the following steps:
- Take the language tests – IELTS/CELPIP for English and TEF for French language
- Get an Educational credential Assessment or ECA done on your educational qualifications by a certified agency to prove that your educational standards are on par with Canadian education system.
Steps for Canada Express Entry
The following steps are required for applying under Express Entry
- The first step is to determine if you are eligible under one of the federal economic programs. The IRCC supports the following federal economic immigration programs through its Express Entry draw.
(a) Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSW) – is intended for professionals who have skills that are in demand in the economy. Many services such as lawyers, Doctors and teachers fall under this category.
(b) The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) – is intended for those candidates who have worked in Canada and have obtained Canadian work experience.
(c) The Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) – is intended for those professionals who work in the technical trades and are semi –skilled workers.
It is important to know exactly which federal economic program you will be eligible for as applying through the wrong program can get your application rejected. Our Canada immigration experts will guide you on the right program based on your professional background
- The second step is to submit a profile online.
- You are assigned a score by the IRCC based on a weighted ranking system with different weights assigned to different categories such as your IELTS score,age, your education level and your work experience. The scoring is done out a total comprehensive ranking score of 1200.
- The IRCC conducts a draw from time to time to determine the cut-off point for issuing invitations to apply (ITAs)
- If your score is higher than the cutoff score then you will receive an ITA.
Candidates who have a job offer from a Canadian company can get additional bonus point in the CRS. You will need to get a labour Market Impact Assessment and a full-time, permanent job offer from a Canadian employer to qualify for the same.
Another method to earn additional points for Express Entry is to apply to individual provinces for their respective provincial nomination programs. The provincial nominee programs are run autonomously by the individual provinces and provide 600 additional points for candidates who show the interest and ability for settling in the province. If you do not have a valid job offer you can register with our job search facility to search for opportunities in Canada.
- The IRCC will conduct the draw and if you have a CRS score higher than the minimum cutoff then you will receive an ITA. Once you receive the ITA you will have a 60 day window to submit an application for Canada PR along with all the required documents.
- If you have not received an ITA in the current round you can consult with our Canada immigration experts for more advise on how to improve your score.
- On receiving the ITA you will need to submit the Police clearance certificate from all countries where you have lived in the past for a period of more than six months since the age of 18 or for the past 10 years. Our Canada immigration experts will guide you on the process for applying for and obtaining one.
- Then IRCC may instruct you to do a medical with any of the panel of physicians approved by IRCC. This is to confirm that you are medically admissible to Canada.
- Under some federal economic programs you may need to submit a proof of funds to show that you can sustain yourself independently in the country.
- After all the certificates are received and your application is scrutinized you are provided with a provisional Permanent Residence visa which allows you to travel to Canada.
NEXT STEP?
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