If you are looking for the fastest and the most popular pathway to immigrate to Canada, Express Entry is the one that you are looking for. There are many people who start their lives in Canada through the Express Entry program. This is the immigration system for the people who are looking to acquire a Permanent Residence in Canada.
Find out if you are eligible for Express Entry or any other immigration program by taking a free online assessment.
Applying for Express Entry is a two-part process. Following are the documents that are required for an application under this program:
Once you have submitted your profile under the program, you will receive an invitation to apply, post which you will have to provide additional documents such as reference letters, additional identity documents, police clearance certificates, and results of a medical examination.
Candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria in order to be considered for the Express Entry program:
The candidates who are eligible under this program also become eligible to enter the following programs:
Find out more about your eligibility by taking a free online assessment.
There are some minimum requirements that you have to fulfill in order to be eligible under the Express Entry program. These are as follows:
There is no one type of profile that can be considered as an ideal candidate for Express Entry. Every candidate has a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and the ones that rank higher than others receive their ITAs before the ones with lower scores.
An ideal candidate under the Express Entry system would look like this:
There are other factors that can help boost your score. These are as follows:
There is no government fee when you submit the initial profile in the system. The fee is to be paid only when you are requested to apply for the Permanent Residency in Canada. In addition to the Federal government fee, you may be required to pay additional fee for the PNPs that you are nominated under.
In case you are applying under specific programs like the Canadian Experience Class, you must be able to demonstrate that you have sufficient funds to support your immigration to Canada. This additional fee is not to be submitted to the government but you must have access to the funds in order to be approved for a permanent residence visa.
No, you do not need a job offer in order to be eligible for Express Entry. A majority of the candidates that are selected under the program do not have a Canadian job offer. A formal full-time job offer can add anywhere from 50 to 200 points to your CRS score. However, a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is required for these points to be awarded to the profile.An informal job offer will not add any points to the profile.
In an ideal situation, from the time of submission of the Express Entry profile to the issuance of the permanent resident visa can take about six months. However, this is not always the case. Your profile remains active for 12 months after the date of submission and if you are not selected until then, you will have to resubmit your profile again.
Applicants are ranked on a system called the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), which determines who gets selected from the Express Entry Pool first. This system scores you based on four main factors:
The higher the applicants’ scores on the CRS, the better their chances of becoming a permanent resident of Canada. The highest you can score on this system is 1,200 points. Below is a breakdown of how you will be scored:
Core CRS Points You can earn Core CRS points for the following:
Additional CRS Points You can earn additional CRS points for the following: