Your complete guide to Canada Express Entry Immigration
You will learn how Canada Express Entry Immigration really works and the best ways to boost your Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) score and increase your chances of an invitation to apply.
We will also explain why more than 25%* of Canada Express Entry Immigration PR applications are rejected and tell you 7 pitfalls to avoid this happening to you.
*Source: Derived from Express Entry Year-End Report 2015
What is Express Entry in Canada?
Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada’s online Expression of Interest system enables the quick ranking and selection of people to receive an invitation to apply for Canadian Permanent Residency in less than six months.
“It is like online dating for immigrants.”
By controlling the number of immigration applications. Express Entry makes the whole system move faster and more efficiently.
Its purpose is to help meet Canada’s labor market needs by fast-tracking those with specific work experience, credentials, and language skills who will be able to quickly settle and contribute to Canada’s economy.
The Express Entry system is a complex and detailed system. We help you understand the process and tell you what is needed to receive your invitation to apply.
The Canada Express Entry Immigration Process
Put simply the process has 3 steps.
Source: Immigration Refugee & Citizenship Canada, 2016 Express Entry Report, National CAPIC Conference
1st Step: You must be eligible under one of Canada’s Federal Immigration Programs,
48,723 (43.2%) of profiles in 2015 were not eligible, as they did not meet the criteria.
These applicants wasted their money on language tests and education assessments when they did not qualify to enter the pool in the first place.
You must qualify under one of these programs;
2nd Step: Filing your Expression of Interest, we’ll talk more on this later. For now, the Expression of Interest application is a common place where candidates make problems for themselves later on.
3rd Step: v Receiving an Invitation to Apply and Apply for Permanent Residency. What could possibly go wrong?
We uncover the secret that Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada does not want you to know about how they are managing to meet their six-month processing times.
Once you have confirmed you qualify. We’ll review your expression of interest and put you in the pool.
Understanding the scoring system on the Canada Express Entry Immigration
You will need to provide information about your marital status (single, married, or common-law) as well as any dependents you might have (children).
In addition, you will be asked to provide evidence of your education, your work experience, and your language proficiency (English and/or French), the better your language skills, work experience, and education the more points you will be awarded.
Your application score is what will determine the order in which you may (or may not) receive your Invitation to Apply for permanent residence.
Your application will be valid for 12 months. If after 12 months you have not been selected, you will be asked if you would like to resubmit your expression of interest application again.
The Canada Express Entry Immigration application process is detailed and requires the applicant to submit only truthful and verifiable information about their language skills, education, and work experience as well as other important factors.
Canada Express Entry Immigration uses a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), in order to assign a score to each applicant.
This enables the government to short-list applicants based on their scores.
In a sense, you are competing against all the other applicants in the pool. Hence, the importance of maximizing your score!
That is to say, those with the highest scores will receive an invitation to apply before those with lower scores.
That means if you are able to show you are highly skilled and experienced in your field, speak either or both official languages, and have an education that maps over well in terms of equivalency, you will automatically receive a higher score.
This is considered the “core human capital” score and accounts for up to 600 points in the CRS.
Other factors such as your spouse’s education, language score, and work experience play a role too.
As does the Skills Transferability points, which are a combination of your language scores, education, and foreign and Canadian work experience.
Calculating your CRS score can be complicated and online calculators can often lead to mistakes.
Just because you have filed an expression of interest doesn’t mean you will be scored high enough to receive an invitation to apply.
Remember, the point of Express Entry is not just to let just anyone apply for permanent residence, but to ensure those who are fast-tracked DO have the desired experience, education, and language skills needed to help boost Canada’s economy.
Source; https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/express-entry-employer.html
Express Entry Draw Trends
As of the April of 2017, the lowest CRS that received an invitation to apply for permanent residence through Canada Express Entry Immigration was 415 points, out of a possible 1200.
This is what we have been seeing month-over-month. At the beginning of the program, the cut off CRS was over 900 points, yet less than 800 invitations were sent out. And the more draws they went through, the lower the score (on average).
Source: Immigration Refugee & Citizenship Canada, 2016 Express Entry Report, National CAPIC Conference.
We have also seen that as the score decreased (as low as 415 points), 3665 invitations were issued.
No one has a crystal ball and can tell you what the score will be next.
That said considering the recent historical lows and the downward trend of the score, if you are someone with a lower score, now might be a good time to get into the pool.
The Lower the Score, the Higher the Invitations
This means that when the invitation score is low a high number of people are invited.
This has significance when we consider for 2017 Canada’s immigration target is set between 81,850 to 93,500 permanent residents through Express Entry.
When you include family members, Family class and other programs the annual target for Immigration to Canada is around 300,000 in total.
Source: Immigration Refugee & Citizenship Canada Website.
Therefore it is important to keep track of how many invitations have been sent out with each draw and what the cumulative total is.
The next question I am asked two or three times a week.
How can I boost my CRS Score?
The higher your CRS score, the better your chances of receiving an invitation. So what can you do to get a higher CRS score?
A validated job offer will increase your score by 50 to 600 points out of a total of 1200 points depending on a number of factors. You can receive a validated job offer in one of two ways:
(a) Nomination from a Province or Territory
(b) Labour Market Impact Assessment
A LMIA application shows the government your new Canadian employer has shown there is a genuine need for your particular skills and talent.
Whereas the PNP is where the province (be it Ontario, Alberta or British Columbia) has nominated you because of your desirable skills and work experience.
A qualifying job offer under NAFTA or as an Intercompany Transferee can also earn you points.
Remember, this must be a validated job offer and your language skills, work experience, and education play an important part in your total score.
The graph below provides a pictorial representation of the validated Canadian job offers and human capital scores.
Source: Immigration Refugee & Citizenship Canada, 2016 Express Entry Report, National CAPIC Conference.
As Canada’s official language, it’s imperative you speak either French or English well.
I meet a lot of people who have the terrible 8. That is they score a Canadian Language benchmark CLB 8 in one of their language categories.
This really pulls down your skills transferability scores.
By improving your language skills, you will also improve your score. Read below to see other ways to up your score.
Ways to boost your score
The CRS Scoring system awards 600 points for human capital. Anything you can do to improve will help;
- Finish that degree you started or consider a Canadian Education Credential for you or your spouse;
- Sit the TEF French Language test if you are at an upper intermediate level;
- If you have a spouse, and you are in need of points have their credentials assessed and have them sit the language test too;
- Gain more Canadian Work Experience.
Being successful in receiving an invitation to apply through an Express Entry draw is only one step in the process in the process to gaining Canadian permanent residency.
I Received An Invitation To Apply. Now What?
Congratulations! If you have received an Invitation to Apply you are on your way to becoming a Canadian permanent resident.
But you still need to finish. Once you receive your invitation, you only have 90 days to respond by completing an electronic application for permanent residence.
Some of the information they require might take more than 90 days to receive. Good luck if you need a police report from sub-Saharan Africa!
It’s important to be prepared and submit your full application on time and to ensure it’s complete and decision-ready.
Evidence of your work experience and education will also be required at this stage.
Beware of embellishments or being economical with the truth
If you receive an ‘Invitation To Apply’, then it is your duty to submit proof of all the information you’ve claimed on your online application, as well as other documentation.
Should it become evident that you have embellished or misrepresented your skills, or work experience you could receive a 5-year ban from applying to be a permanent resident in Canada.
Be aware that your application may fail if the government finds out you lied.
Top Reasons for Express Entry Refusal: IRCC’s Secret to 6 months or less processing times.
Immigration Refugee & Citizenship Canada very publically made a commitment with Express Entry to deliver faster processing in 2015.
One of the ways that they have been able to deliver on this has been to take a very strict line on the completeness of applications using R10 (1) (c). It is a regulation that permits them to bounce back incomplete applications or not meet the requirements.
This unforgiving stance can have disastrous consequences for an applicant. But does help IRCC get up to 25% of applications off their plate? Allowing them to concentrate on processing the remaining applications.
The only way to really ensure you are submitting a complete application is to pay extreme caution and diligence to the instructions and have an eye for detail. So be sure to submit everything that they need to make a decision.
Getting your ducks in a row: The problem with the checklist
Canada Express Entry Immigration computer-generated personalized checklists are often incomplete and do not always provide clear details of the requirements.
For example, the content of reference letters can be unclear as can from which countries you should obtain your police certificates.
Incidentally, you need police checks from each country where you have resided for longer than six-month (cumulatively), not necessarily all in one go, since the age of 18 years old.
The culture with visa officers is that it is easier to reject and return an application. And get it off their desk as incomplete, rather than issue a document request for more information.
Screenshot of redacted IRCC template return letter.
It can take a lot of time to get your application back. At best or at worst leaves you languishing in the pool waiting for another draw that may not come in any time soon.
That’s why working with a licensed immigration professional is helpful. Because they can get you organized and prepared, not to mention ensure everything is filed correctly with the government.
Refusals for no longer meeting requirements
I did a consultation recently, where the applicant needed help because their self-represented application was rejected. Because they did not submit a Queensland traffic history report showing that they had no violations.
Their application was bounced. Fortunately, it was within 60 days so they could use the data from their original Express of Interest.
Only on their second application, it was refused because the BC PNP would not re-issue their nomination. Leaving them without enough points to receive an invitation to apply.
Ensure that you submit all of the documents. Make sure that all of the documents meet IRCC requirements, and double, and triple-check everything.
These points can be especially important. If you are running out of time and approaching the end of your work permit. As you must apply for a bridging open work permit before the expiry of your existing work permit.
Other common mistakes
Failing to respond to IRCC deadlines to provide additional information. IRCC often requests an updated Schedule A or Travel History and gives you 7 days to respond.
Missing a document’s deadline through not monitoring your MyCIC can be a real problem.
Uploading the wrong documents.
The MyCIC portal does not show you what you have uploaded. So it can be easy to upload the wrong document or miss a document causing your application to be incomplete.
Conclusions
Just submitting an Expression of Interest for Canada Express Entry Immigration does not automatically qualify you to receive an Invitation to Apply for permanent residence in Canada.
You will be notified if your profile is accepted into the pool of candidates. According to the CRS, your profile will be scored.
Canada Express Entry Immigration is an ‘active selection’ system. Once you have been scored. The government will continue to select candidates on an ongoing basis.
However, you might not receive your Invitation to Apply in which case you will either have to resubmit another Canada Express Entry Immigration of Interest application or select another option.
If you do receive an invitation, this is just the first step and you must still meet the requirements under Canada’s immigration law.
So, the most important thing to take away is that your Express Entry online application needs to be entirely truthful and accurate otherwise you will come into some issues down the road.
How did you score?
If you’d like to know how you fare. We invite you to schedule a consultation where we can assess your case. There are no obligations, and our assessment will help you understand. Where you stand and offer practical advice to get you closer to your goal.
Contact Matthew or Miho today to learn about the best option for you and your family and to learn about our Canada express entry immigration consultant services.
Thinking of immigrating to Canada? Find out if you qualify.
Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada’s online Expression of Interest system enables the quick ranking and selection of people to receive an invitation to apply for Canadian Permanent Residency in less than six months.
“It is like online dating for immigrants.”
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