Getting started with Canadian Express entry immigration program!

What is Canada's express entry immigration program for skilled immigrants?

Immigrating to a new country sounds daunting. For those who have experienced immigration with USA, we always think that it would be years before you get your permanent residency. However, for Canada, you now have a very streamlined approach for skilled immigrants to immigrate to Canada. This program is known as express entry. This is almost an online process until the last step. There are 3 main streams by which you can enter - 1) Federal Express entry or Federal skilled worker 2) Canadian Experience class and 3) Federal Skilled trade. Our personal experience has been great because we got updates along the way for our application. The IRCC and government websites gave us relevant news updates along the way. We were pleasantly happy to see a government initiative run so smoothly.

Do I need a sponsor i.e. like my employer for this process?

For anyone who has been on work visa especially in the States or Canada, this is an important question.  The answer is NO. Express entry is totally in your hands. Nobody needs to approve you. 

How to determine if you are a skilled immigrant?

You can find your National Occupation Code (NOC) for your profession. You know your job duties and so based on that you will have to find your NOC. Here are some more tips for the same. You need about a 50% match with the duties listed. So don't go by title. This is something that no consultant can tell you for sure. This is the part that you will have to do some research because ultimately you know your job duties best. Your employer would ultimately have to give you a letter stating job duties. So, that should allude to the NOC that you select. Be very careful with what you select. We found multiple codes for the same job. Ultimately, you have to choose one. 

Should I hire a consultant or is this as easy as it looks?

This was one of the questions we brooded on for months. All the requirements for every aspect (For eg: proof of work, proof of funds, security etc.) are on the website and the simple rule of thumb is that you have to answer every requirement. You need to pay attention to detail and that is the only quality needed for successfully submitting your application. Evaluate your personal history for your family. If all of you have a clean record in regards to security, work experience, education, proof of funds, medical history and a good score then you can think of doing it yourself. Express entry draws and lowest cut-off is public information and you can learn more here. Compare your score with recent cut-offs. If you fall in the range then you have a good chance of getting an invite i.e. ITA. You need a trusted reviewer in case you are doing it yourself. It could be a relative or friend. The simple reason being you have a lot of personal information in those documents. In our case, I created the documents and my spouse was the reviewer. Take your call accordingly. There are no "hidden" requirements. You might just need some information in case of some variation. That is precisely, why you have my blog! If you have some edge case queries, please use the contact form and email us. Your hard-earned money can be used to financing your express entry. Learn how many $$ it would take for Canadian express entry.

Get started with your dream of Canadian Express entry with the steps below.

1. Understand the various stages of Express entry program. 
2. Create your express entry profile. Do not submit it and only save it as draft. Calculate your CRS score with the profile. This is the accurate score with which you should plan. Understand your score with our blog. 
3. Now that you understand the scores, get your pre-requisites done -
• Prepare for your English language test with our blog. For French refer to the CIC website.
• Get your education evaluated with a CIC authorized body. We used WES and here are some tips.
4. With educational evaluation and language test results,  you are ready to submit your express entry profile.  This blog will help you for the same. 

What happens after after you submit the profile?

1. With this you are now in the pool and will be evaluated with other applications. If your score is above the cut-off,  you would get the invite to apply. Your profile is in the pool for one year. Draws are held every 15 days. Don't be disheartened if you don't get an invite in the next draw. It is a very trying time when you are waiting but it will be worth it.
2. Our advice to you for this phase is while you are awaiting your invitation to apply, plan ahead for procuring documents from your employer(s), financial institutions etc. The timeline to submit your documents has been reduced to 60 days instead of 90. Prepare for the same with this blog.

Next steps - Create & submit your Express entry profile with this set of posts. 

Hope this helps!

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