Permanent Residence – Express Entry
Permanent Residence and Express Entry
If you are thinking of coming to Canada or staying in Canada (after a period of work or study here), on a permanent basis, you need to look at your options for applying for permanent residence. Having permanent residence in Canada allows you to live in Canada indefinitely, so long as you fulfil your residency obligations, which includes spending 730 days in Canada out of a five-year period. Successful applicants will receive a Permanent Resident Card, which are valid for five-year periods and which must be renewed upon expiry.
So, how do you obtain Permanent Residence?
IRCC are generally seeking skilled, educated people who can demonstrate an ability to settle in Canada and contribute to the Canadian Economy. As such, in 2015, IRCC established a new intake system which allows such skilled immigrants to apply for permanent residence in Canada through Express Entry.
What Is Express Entry?
Express Entry is a points-based system that IRCC has developed to manage applications under the Economic immigration programs, which include
- Federal Skilled Worker Program,
- Federal Skilled Trades Program, and
- Canadian Experience Class.
The first step is to determine if you are eligible to apply under any of these economic programs. and submit an online profile in the Express Entry system. To be eligible to enter the pool, Express Entry candidates must have skilled work experience in a National Occupational Code (NOC) 0, A or B occupation. Candidates must also meet the minimum language requirements (for NOC 0 and A occupations: CLB 7; for NOC B occupations: CLB 5).
If eligible, you will then be placed into a pool of candidates who all seek permanent residence. IRCC uses a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to assess points for each individual candidate and rank them accordingly. CRS looks at a variety of factors in awarding points, which include:
Age
Work experience
Language ability
Education and Certification (Trades)
Valid Job Offers
Invitation To Apply
Every month or so, IRCC will have a selection round and typically the highest-ranking Candidates in the pool will be issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence.
Entry into the Express Entry pool does not guarantee an ITA for permanent residence. Even with an ITA, the candidate still has to meet eligibility and admissibility requirements under Canada’s immigration law (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act).
Once you have accepted your ITA, you have 60 days to submit an online application for permanent residence. Once you have submitted your permanent residence application, IRCC has announced that they hope to process at least 80% of these applications within a six-month time-frame.
Conclusion:
Express Entry is designed to create a pool of high-quality candidates who employers in Canada will be able to consider when they cannot find Canadians or permanent residents to fill job vacancies. There are many ways to improve your CRS or points and we encourage you to schedule a consultation so that we can calculate your points and discuss ways of improving your chances of success. You can also provide us with some basic information and we can provide you with a free calculation of your points for Express Entry.
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Free Calculator For Express Entry
Please complete this form to give us more information on whether you meet the requirements to become a Permanent Resident.