Express Entry is an immigration program providing an expeditious process for professionals with a desire to settle in Canada. For potential candidates, this allows for an accelerated pathway to permanent residency. The program works by assessing online profiles on a point-based basis in accordance with the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) and ranking the profiles within the candidate pool. A CRS score is calculated based on the candidate’s profile and certain criteria such as the individual’s age, education, language proficiency, and more.
Express Entry is divided into three programs, each carrying different eligibility criteria depending on the individual’s characteristics, work-wise:
Canadian Experience Class This pathway is for skilled workers with previous full-time Canadian work experience lasting at least one year within the past three prior to applying. This requirement can be met in a few different ways. The first way this could be achieved is through one year of full-time employment (30 hours/week for 12 months) resulting in a total of 1,560 hours worked throughout the year. The second way this requirement could be met is through an equal number of hours worked through part-time employment (i.e. 15 hours/week for 24 months).
Federal Skilled Worker Program This program, bearing only minimal language, education, and work experience requirements, is designed for skilled workers possessing only foreign work experience with the desire to permanently immigrate to Canada.
Federal Skilled Trades Program The Federal Skilled Trades Program is designed for workers qualified in skilled trades. Besides the required language proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, skilled workers require at a minimum 2 years of full-time hours or equal hours of part-time work experience within the 5 years prior to application. A skilled trade certificate issued by a Canadian province is also vital for eligibility within this program.
The Steps There are five simple steps that can be followed in order to ensure that your profile is completed, and all required documents are included.
STEP 1: Eligibility The first step is finding out whether you are eligible to apply for Express Entry within one of the above mentioned programs.
If you are eligible, you will be placed in a pool with all eligible applicants while being ranked based on a number of requirements. Invitations to apply for permanent residency are only conveyed to the top individuals with high rankings.
The best way to determine your eligibility, as well as the program that you are best suited for, would be to contact the lawyers available through Immigrate for Business (immigrateforbusiness.ca).
STEP 2: Score Verification Following submission, your profile will be assessed using the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). This is a point-based system used to evaluate your profile and rank it within the Express Entry pool based on the score it is given.
STEP 3: Documents Although the documents required are not necessary to submit your profile, many may take a while to receive and should thus be prepared early on in your decision to pursue this pathway. Documentation such as the following may be required: • Proof of language proficiency; • Medical examination; • Police certificate; • Birth certificate; and • Marriage/divorce certificate.
Additional documents may be requested from you based on your personalized document checklist. These may include: • Proof of relationship to a relative in Canada • Photo identification • Name/aliases STEP 4: Completing Your Profile As Express Entry is a dynamic system that varies with each draw cycle; there is no way to determine if the CRS cut-out scores will increase or decrease. This is dependent on the distribution of candidates as well as the highest CRS scores. When there is a large number of candidates that have received high CRS scores, the cut-off tends to increase, and it will also decrease when the number of candidates is lower. However, it is not possible to predict this in advance.
Following the submission of your profile to the Express Entry pool, you will receive a score and be ranked based on different criteria. The ranking places great importance on your Express Entry profile, so completing it as accurately as possible will increase the likelihood of receiving a higher CRS score. The lawyers available through Immigrate for Business (immigrateforbusiness.ca), can take the burden of accurate completion out of your hands - ensuring you have the best possible chance of success.
STEP 5: Invitations and Applications Unfortunately, not all applicants receive an invitation to apply for permanent residency.
Approximately every two weeks, Immigration, refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will provide an Invitation to Apply (ITA) to the candidates carrying the highest CRS scores. Those who do receive an invitation will have 60 days to submit their application for permanent residency and these applications will be assessed and processed within 6 months of submission.
All profiles received will remain in the Express Entry pool for approximately one year. New profiles can be submitted to take the place of expired ones.
To increase the likelihood of receiving an ITA, consult our lawyers and put them to work for you.