What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is not a Canadian immigration program in itself. It is rather a System for managing candidates’records in order to guarantee those whose records show that they possess the ability to become established in the Canadian community and who can quickly merge within the society and help build the economy, advance to a Permanent Residency application.

The Express Entry system manages records of 3 main Canadian immigration programs:

• The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW)
• The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FST)
• The Canadian Experience Class Program (CEC)

How Do I Qualify?

While each Canadian immigration program has its own qualification criteria, the Express Entry system has no specific qualification area of its own.

However, in order to be accepted into the Express Entry system (also known as the “Pool”), you need qualify for one of the 3 programs it manages, namely, FSW, FST or CEC.​

Once you qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades, or the Canadian Experience Class programs, your record will be input into the Express Entry system (The Pool) and will be assigned a score that depends on:

• Core Human Capital Factors
  • Age, Education, Language Proficiency, etc.
• Skill Transfer-ability factors
  • A combination of Education, Language, Experience & French language proficiency
• Additional Points
  • Those who have blood relatives in Canada, have a job offer, or a provincial nomination

Your score will remain in the pool for a maximum of 1 year and will be subject to periodic draws by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, where records that has a certain score or higher will be drawn and sent what is called an ITA (Invitation To Apply).

Once you receive an ITA, the Canadian Government has authorized you to complete your application for the Permanent Residency within the program you were enrolled under when your record joined the Express Entry system.

Receiving an ITA is not a guarantee that you will receive a Permanent Resident visa. Your application must still be accurate, complete, error free and timely. Otherwise, your application may be rejected.

Your Next Steps:

When you fill our Free Assessment form, we will let you know what your current options are when it comes to one of the 3 programs included within the Express Entry system.

If you are qualified for one of the 3 programs, but your score in the pool is not very competitive, we will let you know that and will recommend ways to improve your score before you apply so that your record can stand a better chance of being selected in one of the periodic draws.