How Does The Canadian Express Entry Immigration System Work?

The Express Entry Immigration System was developed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to control and manage the inventory of immigration cases in Canada. Basically, the Express Entry System manages and controls permanent residency applications for the programs below:

• Federal Skills Trades Program
• Canadian Experience Class
• Federal Skilled Worker Program
• Some Provincial Nominee Programs

The Express Entry Profile

In the Express Entry Immigration System, the candidate must file an electronic profile that includes significant and relevant data about the candidate and, if applicable, their spouse. This profile includes:

1. Work Experience
2. Language Skills
3. Other Skills and Qualifications
4. Level of Education
5. Additional details that may be helpful for the assessment of the candidate.

The profile must also include the test results from an approved language test. There are three official, government-approved language tests, which are the CELPIP and the IELTS tests for English, and for French, there is the TEF test.

In addition, if the candidate has obtained a university degree from another country, it is necessary to have that degree evaluated by an approved evaluation agency and submit the ECA evaluation of your degree and a summary of your work experience with the profile.

Candidates that satisfy the criteria of Citizenship and Immigration Canada are placed in an accepted pool of candidates. Candidates in this pool are then ranked based on the CRS or Comprehensive Ranking System. The rankings are arranged according to the profile information of each candidate and the IRCC uses this data to assess which candidates are the most desirable. The desired candidates are then invited to apply for immigration under one of the four programs listed above. Each candidate would then be required to file a perfected application within 60 days.

Express Entry Canada Processing Times

After the perfected application has been submitted, there is an estimated processing time of approximately 6 months.