Express Entry

Express Entry is an online application management system that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) uses to handle and process applications for skilled workers seeking to immigrate to Canada legally under three of its federal economic immigration programmes.:

• The Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC)
• The Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
• The Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC).

It is a competitive immigration system where all eligible applicants are ranked against one another according to their age, education, language ability, work experience, and other criteria. Then, through regular draws, the candidates who placed highest are invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

In order to eligible to apply under Express Entry Program, the applicant must:
• have a minimum 1 year of continuous work experience in the last 10 years in the skill level O, A or B under the National Occupational Classification (NOC) list;
• meet or exceed the minimum language threshold of Canadian language benchmark (CLB) as per the program requirement;
• hold a Canadian educational credential equivalent to high school or a foreign educational credential along with an educational credential assessment (ECA) report must be provided from a designated agency.

1. Determine Eligibility in one of the three economic immigration programs: Potential applicants will need to be eligible for one of the three immigration programs in Express Entry to get into the pool.
2. Create an Express Entry profile: Eligible candidates are required to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) by creating a profile in Express Entry portal summarizing their skills and credentials including Age, Education, Language, Work Experience, and others.
Providing valid language test results and ECA report are mandatory to submit with the application.
Following submission, eligible candidates are entered into a pool of applicants, where Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) will be automatically applicable and applicants will be ranked on a scale of 1200 points. The higher a candidate’s CRS score, the higher the likelihood they will receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA).

Candidates in the Express Entry pool can create an account on the Canada Job Bank, which eligible Canadian employers can use to find skilled foreign nationals and offer them a position.
If you claim a full-time Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) approved job offer under Express Entry, you can now get:
• 200 CRS points for NOC 00 jobs
• 50 CRS points for any other NOC 0, A and B jobs
3. Receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA): IRCC conducts Express Entry draws at regular intervals usually every two weeks and invites candidates above a certain rank to apply for Canadian permanent residence.
4. Submit application for permanent residence to IRCC: Candidates, who receive Invitations to Apply (ITAs), are given 60 days to submit a complete online application for permanent residence. In this application, candidates will have to provide extensive personal information along with supporting documentation.

Candidates are given a score to determine their place in the express entry pool using a Comprehensive Ranking System. Your Express Entry profile will get points based on:
• Your age;
• Your education level;
• Your abilities in English and/or French (Canada’s 2 official languages);
• Your work experience and skills;
• If you have a job offer in Canada;
• your spouse’s education, language abilities and work experience; and
• Combination of above factors.
Additional points are also awarded if you have completed a college or university program in Canada or if you have a provincial nomination.

Provincial Nominee Programs aligned with Express Entry
With an aim to attract highly skilled immigrants and deal with labour market needs, many of Canada’s provinces and territories have provincial nominee immigration streams linked to Federal Express Entry.
While a nomination from one of Canada’s Provinces is not necessary to enter the Express Entry pool or receive an ITA, it can increase an applicant’s CRS score by 600 points, eventually enabling him/her receive an ITA quickly.
There have been a number of active Express Entry-aligned PNP streams that are quite popular and can open, fill, or change without notice.

*Some of the provinces require application to have a job offer to be eligible to apply while others do not.