In 2015, Canada started the Express Entry system to process

Are you thinking of how to become a permanent resident in Canada (as a skilled immigrant)? Shall we?

What is Express Entry?

In 2015, Canada started the Express Entry system to process permanent residence applications for SKILLED workers who want to settle in Canada permanently. Every year, thousands of candidates are invited through any of the three(3) sub-categories of the Express Entry System to become permanent residents in Canada. In addition, it will take you about 3 years of living in Canada as a permanent resident to also become eligible for Canadian citizenship.

While there are over 100 immigration programs in Canada, Express Entry is the most popular for permanent residence applications. It is a system for foreign nationals to immigrate permanently to Canada under 3 sub-programs, and it is a point-based immigration system that is based on certain skills/economic requirements.

The Three (3) Sub-categories in Express Entry

The 3 Express Entry sub-categories are:

Federal Skilled Worker.
Canadian Experience Class.
Federal skilled Trades.

Express Entry is a Federal Government of Canada program, meaning it is different from Provincial or other Immigration Programs.

If you click the links above you will notice the differences in each of the sub-categories.

Basically:

FSW: For skilled workers with FOREIGN work experience.
CEC: For skilled workers with CANADIAN work experience.
FST: For skilled workers qualified in selected skilled TRADES.

I can hear someone asking how will I know which one to apply for.

As stated, if you do not have CANADIAN work experience of at least one year, or in the selected skilled TRADES, then your option is Federal Skilled Worker (FSW). FSW is what many people OUTSIDE Canada apply for. Let’s focus on that.

The Six Selection Factors

To become eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker program, six selection factors are used: ,

Language skills (in English and/or French)
Education level
Work Experience
Age
Arranged Employment in Canada
Adaptability points

If you score 67/100 in the above factors, you may be eligible to apply.

Your eligibility above is the first thing to determine before you even set up your Express Entry profile.

1) The Required Language Test

To know your language skills/points and to be eligible for permanent residence in Canada as a skilled worker, you must write at least one of the language tests, IELTS or CELPIP General Training (for English) or TEF or TCF ( for French).

Some people who have the ability will write their language tests in both English and French because having both language abilities will increase your points significantly.

So, find a language examination available in your country. CELPIP, for instance, can only be written in Canada, USA, China, India, Philippines, UAE, and recently, Nigeria.

Also, aim for as high as possible in your language test. After you receive your language test score, the language test score is converted to the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB). I, therefore, recommend having CLB 9 and above. In IELTS, a CLB 9 language score is having at least Listening – 8; and others 7.

2) The Required Education Credential Assessment (ECA)

Also, if your Degree is NOT from Canada you must do an Education Credential Assessment (ECA) to evaluate it with any organization listed here. This will allow the organization to issue you a report and state what your degree is equivalent to in Canada.

Without your language test result(s) and the completed Education Credential Assessment (ECA), you CANNOT begin your Express Entry application or set up your Express Entry profile. So yes, it is compulsory to do both.

It also doesn’t matter which one you do first, but your ECA may take longer to complete. You need to get your transcripts and certificates for this, and the ECA is valid for 5 years. The language tests are valid for 2 years. Because of this, I recommend that you start your ECA first and use the waiting time to prepare for your language test.

Express Entry is also point-based as I earlier said, the more you have the better (except for age). Once you are over 29 years old, you will begin to lose some points for every additional year from 30 years old.

2b) Additional Information for Education Credential Assessment (ECA)

For the ECA, you may evaluate your highest degree alone (i.e. if you have a Master’s or PhD). If you already have one of the two (a Masters or PhD), you are only awarded points for the highest Degree.

However, if you only have a BSc, you can add an additional recognized Professional Certificate or Post-Graduate Diploma. When you evaluate your BSc with this, both will give you more points. It is regarded as “Two or more certificates, diplomas, or degrees.” One of these two must also be for a program of three or more years.

If done together, you will NOT pay extra fees for evaluating more than one degree by any of the organizations. Educational Credential Assessment fees are flat rates. Extra costs could be the cost of sending your documents (i.e. transcripts) to the designated organizations.

2c) First Degree Holders with Professional Degrees.

Another additional information is for those who have Degrees regarded as “professional degrees needed to practice in a licensed profession.”

If you have any of these seven (7) professional degrees and complete your Education Credential Assessment (ECA) at a designated organization for your profession, you will receive an evaluation that gives you a point equal to having a Master’s Degree. This is more points than a Bsc point, which is an added advantage for you.

The Degrees recognized as professional degrees are:

Medicine (use MCC for your evaluation)
Veterinary Medicine
Dentistry
Optometry
Law (use IQAS for your evaluation)
Chiropractic Medicine
Pharmacy (use PEBC for your evaluation)

If you have a degree in an area that is not one of those listed above then it will not be considered a “professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession”.

3) The requirements for your work experience and National Occupation Classification (NOC)

Your work experience must also be at least one year full-time (or equivalent in part-time).

According to the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). You must have:

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).

Your work experience must also be a TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the Canadian National Occupation Classification (NOC). If yours isn’t, it means it’s not a “skilled” job that is eligible for Express Entry in Canada.

Once you have one year of full-time work experience in your primary NOC, your other years of work experience can be in other NOCs, or be in the same NOC too. For instance, Ade has one year of work experience as a Banker, and has also worked for 2 years as a Teacher, and 1 year as a Management Consultant. In total, Ade has 4 years of work experience, he will only decide which one to choose as his primary NOC, and add others as well.

As long as all of Ade’s work experience is in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3, Ade can claim points for all his work experience, even though they have different NOCs.

The good thing about the Express Entry program is that your education and work experience do not need to be in the same field. So, Ade’s degree could be in Microbiology, and he will still be able to claim points for his work experience as a Banker, Teacher, and Management Consultant.

When submitting a final permanent residence application, Ade will present documents from all his employers to show that he truly worked in those areas. (examples of documents required are employer reference letters, payslips, ID Cards, pension statements, etc. as many as possible and available)

4) Setting Up the Express Entry Profile (Entering the Express Entry Pool).

With your ECA, language result(s), and other information, you can calculate your Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Score here.

Once this is done, then set up your Express Entry profile here.

If your CRS score in the profile isn’t what was calculated above, then there is an error somewhere. Find the error, fix it, and update your profile!

As you already know, Express Entry is a point-based system. Your profile and CRS Score will be ranked with other candidates in the pool. A CRS cut-off will be decided whenever a draw is to be done, and those who meet the cut-off are invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

Express Entry draws are mostly done bi-weekly, it is not a lottery, it is a selection of the highest-ranking candidates. The cut-off is not static and can go up or down. Only IRCC determines what the cut-off would be for any draw and how many people to be invited.