Express Entry (EE) is an online immigration application system. It allows people to submit a profile and be considered as a skilled immigrant. Candidates with the highest rankings are invited to apply for permanent residency.  If you fill out a profile for Express Entry, your application will be ranked according to a points system.

 If you are highly ranked, you will be invited to apply for permanent residence as a skilled immigrant.

Once you have applied, your PR application will then be processed within the next 6 months.

You must use Express Entry to apply for:

The Skilled Worker Program

The Skilled Trades Program

The Canadian Experience Class

You qualify for Express Entry if you meet the eligibility criteria for the Skilled Worker program, Skilled Trades program, or Canadian Experience Class.

Your Express Entry profile will get points based on:

Your education level;

Your abilities in English and/or French (Canada's 2 official languages);

 Your work experience and skills;

 Your age;

If you have a job offer in Canada; and

Your spouse's education, language abilities and work experience. Additional points are also awarded if you have completed a college or university program in Canada or if you have a provincial nomination.

Language-

To be eligible for Express Entry, you must prove your English or French language ability:

take an approved language test

get the minimum results required by your program

include the results when you complete your Express Entry profile

 

The language test evaluates these abilities:

 writing

  reading

  listening

  speaking

To measure your English or French levels, we use:

Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) for English

 Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadien (NCLC) for French

 

Federal Skilled Worker Program

First official language Language          Minimum level for all four abilities

English          CLB 7

French           NCLC7

 

Second official language: Minimum level of CLB or NCLC 5.

Canadian Experience Class

 

The skills you need will depend on the group your job is classified in under the National Occupational Classification system (NOC).

NOC skill type or level    Minimum level for all four language abilities (English)   Minimum level for all four language abilities (French)

NOC 0 or A CLB 7             NCLC 7

NOC B           CLB 5             NCLC 5

Federal Skilled Trades Program Language   Abilities       Minimum level

English          Speaking and listening    CLB 5

English          Reading and writing         CLB 4

French           Speaking and listening    NCLC 5

French           Reading and writing         NCLC 4

How long language test results are valid for

Your test results must be less than two years old when you submit your application for permanent residence.

If you’ve been invited to apply for permanent residence

Check that your language test results will still be valid when you plan to apply.

If you haven’t been invited to apply for permanent residence

 

You may want to make sure your results are valid for the rest of the time you’ll be in the pool.