Express Entry in a nutshell

[Aizaa]

<<< This post is straight from my blog. I thought it would be better to have a copy on the forum too>>>

I wanted to write this post for people who are planning to apply for Permanent Residence in Canada through the Express Entry system. This post would serve as a guide and explain what the process is like, what to expect and what NOT to do when you apply.

I shall update this post from time to time to keep up with the updates that CIC would be throwing at us! I will do my best to keep this post up to date and to keep all the information in this post valid and correct. This post is intended for anyone who wants to get a glimpse of how the process works.

This is basically a 2 step process. You first submit an online Express Entry profile and you receive an ITA and after that you apply for permanent residence.

So, let’s get started. I shall explain the process in 3 parts: Pre-Application, Pre-ITA and Post-ITA. (Don’t worry, you’ll soon find out what an ITA is).

I’ll give you guys a brief description of the 3 parts I have mentioned above.

Pre-application phase – A phase where you have NOT created an online Express Entry (hereafter referred to as EE) profile. You do not have a profile number.

Pre-ITA phase – A phase where you have created an online profile and you are waiting to get your Invitation to Apply (hereafter referred to as ITA).

Post-ITA phase – A phase where you have received an ITA and you are all set to submit your Permanent Resident (hereafter referred to as PR) application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (hereafter referred to as CIC).

PRE-APPLICATION PHASE​

You will go through the following in the pre-application phase:

Deciding to come to Canada

Take a piece of paper and write down why you want to come to Canada. Outline your settlement plan; try to research how you would support yourself and the job prospects in Canada. Please do not paint a rosy picture, don’t think Canada will be a land of milk and honey right after you land here. You have to build a life for yourself so DO NOT plan to relax as soon as you get here.

If you are determined to work smart and put in sincere efforts once you get here, you will be a successful immigrant in your new home – Canada.

Checking if you are eligible

To apply to Express Entry, you must satisfy certain criteria. We shall discuss this below.

You should be eligible under one of the Economic Immigration programs (Federal Skilled Worker Program [ hereafter referred to as FSW/FSWP], Federal Skilled Trades [hereafter referred to as FST] or Canadian Experience Class [hereafter referred to as CEC].

FSWP

FST

CEC

From this point on, I will limit the information to FSW program alone.

For FSWP, you need to score at least 67 points out of 100 to be eligible. You can manually calculate your points based on the criteria outlined in the CIC webpage (on the link that is provided).

So, are you eligible? Do you score at least 67/100 points? If no, I’m very sorry, you are not eligible to apply under the FSWP. If yes, keep your fingers crossed, you have another set of criteria to satisfy to be eligible for Express Entry.

You must use the Come to Canada tool to check if you are eligible under Express Entry.

Provide answers to the questions and the tool will tell you if you are eligible or not. The basic eligibility criteria are as follows :

A) You need to have your language test results ready (English or French – I shall write a separate post about this later).
B) You need to have an ECA report for your academic degrees/diplomas if they were not obtained from Canada. You can learn about the ECA process at here
C) You need to have at least one year continuous, full-time (at least 30 hours per week/1560 hours per year) or equivalent part-time experience in an occupation that is categorized under NOC 0, A or B in the past 10 years.
D) You need to have unfettered access to sufficient funds (that are unencumbered) depending on your family size (for the case in point here, “dependents” include your spouse and your dependent children). This money may not be borrowed from another person. You can check how much funds you need (here)

So, what does the tool say? Are you eligible? No? I’m sorry, you can check if you are eligible under any other immigration program. If yes, congratulations, you have cleared one hurdle on your path to attaining your Permanent Residence. You will receive a code that is called the “Personal Reference Code”. You need this to create your online EE profile.

Creating your online Express Entry profile:

Congratulations! You are eligible and all set to create your online Express Entry profile. To proceed you will need a couple of things:

A) As mentioned before, you would need the Personal Reference code.

B) You need to create a myCIC account, if you do not have one already.

C) You will need your language test’s Test Report Form (hereafter referred to as TRF) number AND your ECA report number to create and submit a complete profile.

D) You need to register with Canada’s “Job Bank” for CIC to deem your application as complete. The only people who are exempted from this requirement are the ones who have a job offer endorsed with a positive Labor Market Impact Assessment (hereafter referred to as LMIA) or people who are already working in Canada.

Please note that you need a login credential to create a myCIC account; you can login through a sign-in partner or by creating a GC key. I will discuss, in pristine detail, the end to end process involved in creating an EE profile (with screenshots) in a separate post since the scope of this post is only to provide some basic insight on how the EE system works.

You will have created your profile by now. Now you have to sit down patiently and wait for your ITA. The odds of getting an ITA are directly proportional to your CRS. Higher your CRS, higher the chances of getting invited. This is the end of the pre-application phase.

Please find the step-by-step details here

PRE-ITA PHASE​

As I have already mentioned before, this phase requires you to wait and have patience. Roughly speaking, CIC conducts draws twice a month. The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration decides the cut-off score for the particular draw. You can see the rounds of invitation (here). If your score is greater than or equal to the cut-off score selected by CIC, you will get an ITA.

One thing that you’ll have to do here is keep an eye on the draws and your CRS. You have to see how close you are to the previous/recent draws. I must admit that CIC is extremely unpredictable in this regard; the draws are random and the CRS cannot be predicted in advance, so to speak. So, depending on your CRS, you might want to consider applying for Provincial Nomination, which has been discussed at the end of this section.

In the pre-ITA phase, you can start collecting the documents that you are expected to submit once you get an ITA. Some of the documents that you can prioritize on getting are Police Clearance Certificates and your Employer reference letters.

-rajkamalmohanram

Thanks very helpful indeed
I'm stuck at score of 344 in express entry and applied over Mpnp/PEIPNP. Is it possible to contact agencies who can help find jobs? Thanks again

 

[AtImechE]

Guys i have 6 months pof but the funds were less than required in first two months. I got a gift affidavit from my dad on stamp paper today.
Do I need anything else?

 

[TanakaM]

Hi All

How much time is CIC taking to process PR once they get your docs in Express entry ? any idea..I just submitted my docs on Aug 17.
Till what time should I expect PPR ? any ETA ?

P.S I have already passed medical exam.

Hi,

You have passed meds already, wow, that's quick. Each application is different so it's difficult to say. I would say +/- 90-120 days based on current trends.

All the best

 

[hazem2emam]

Thanks for your full explanation
I have a question regarding the proof of funds when landing for the 1st time in a Canadian POE
I live and work in Dubai but I am travelling to Canada from my home country next week
I have a bank statement for my account in a bank in Dubai, but I heard that only a Canadian bank account would be accepted
IS THAT TRUE ?

 

[sidhusukhdev123]

preferable if its on a letterhead....

you have to get it notarized.

Hi stunner..

I have convinced one of my manager regarding letter of reference under whom I have worked in past but he is retired now..will his signed letter works for me??

Thanks in advance.

 

[jassodhi]

Guys i have 6 months pof but the funds were less than required in first two months. I got a gift affidavit from my dad on stamp paper today.
Do I need anything else?

Hi,
I assume the funds deposited by your father was a single payment to your account. so a gift deed/affidavit for the amount is good enough. do mention this in the LOE.
what stage is your application at?
regards

 

[TanakaM]

Thanks for your full explanation
I have a question regarding the proof of funds when landing for the 1st time in a Canadian POE
I live and work in Dubai but I am travelling to Canada from my home country next week
I have a bank statement for my account in a bank in Dubai, but I heard that only a Canadian bank account would be accepted
IS THAT TRUE ?

Hi,

That's not true. Most immigrants wont have Canadian accounts when they enter.

Regards

 

[hazem2emam]

Hi,

That's not true. Most immigrants wont have Canadian accounts when they enter.

Regards

so if I print a bank statement for my bank account in Dubai (via online banking) it would be accepted ?
and If I carry cash ONLY as a proof of funds, it should be 12300 CAD ?

 

[TanakaM]

so if I print a bank statement for my bank account in Dubai (via online banking) it would be accepted ?

I would rather have a stamped bank statement or even bank letter will do.

regards

 

[hazem2emam]

I would rather have a stamped bank statement or even bank letter will do.

regards

it is not possible as I am not in Dubai now, what about cash ?
I have 2100 USD in cash, is it enough or it should be 12300 CAD ?

 

[sidhusukhdev123]

hi tanakaM..
I have convinced one of my manager regarding letter of reference under whom I have worked in past but he is retired now..will his signed letter works for me??

Thanks in advance.

 

[AtImechE]

Hi,
I assume the funds deposited by your father was a single payment to your account. so a gift deed/affidavit for the amount is good enough. do mention this in the LOE.
what stage is your application at?
regards

Thanks for reply. Unfortunately no. Funds were cash deposited in a few transaction. What do you advise in that case?
I am about to submit my application, just clearing my doubts before I do.

 

[ballo]

its 6 months from the time he SUBMITS the application... not from ITA...

what date did he actually submit the application

I got that confused. I submitted application on 1st May 2017. so it has been little over 4 months as of today.

 

[TanakaM]

hi tanakaM..
I have convinced one of my manager regarding letter of reference under whom I have worked in past but he is retired now..will his signed letter works for me??

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

IMO, a retired manager is not a good idea. You are better off with someone currently in the organisation.

regards

 

[Chef Sumit]

Hello-Please help with my question.

How can we get an extension on Initial entry date. We did our medical in Jan 2017, so I assume our initial entry date will be in Jan 2018. Problem is we can not travel from now until Jan due to personal reasons.

Is initial entry date based on PCC as well or just medicals?

We still haven't received PPR but I am hopeful that we will get it.

If there is something that we can do to extend the initial entry date then I would like to do it as soon as possible and not wait for PPR.

Please advise and TIA.