As everyone else has said, please dump this consultant immediately - he/she is an idiot - your area of studies and your subsequent primary NOC (your work experience) has nothing to do with your eligibility.
Read below to calculate your own eligibility (and chances), and on how to start the process yourself:
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Express Entry Eligibility
The first thing you should do is check your eligibility for
Express Entry (EE).
(Unless you have Canadian work experience, you would most likely be trying to apply under the FSW programme.)
If you're eligible, you need to calculate your projected
Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Score. The CRS Score is what IRCC uses to determine which applicants will get an
Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residency.
The general consensus is that, at least right now, you need a CRS score of at least 435 to have a chance at getting an ITA; but please note that this could change in the future as the 'cut-off' CRS Score in Draws fluctuates.
If you are eligible under FSW or CEC, AND if your projected CRS Score is high enough to give you a strong likelihood of receiving an ITA, you will need to submit an EE profile to be considered for an Invitation.
Please note that submitting an EE profile is not the same as submitting an application to IRCC for PR. It's just an 'expression of interest'.
Once you submit your EE profile, the wait is on for the next 'Draw', to see if your CRS Score is above the 'cut-off' which would mean you would get an ITA. 'Draws' occur roughly every 2 or 3 weeks, usually on Wednesdays, and the results of the draw are posted to IRCC's website, but you'll also get a notification in your myCIC account (more on this later), and an email, if you receive an ITA.
If you get an ITA, choose to accept it, and subsequently submit an electronic application for permanent residency (eAPR), THIS is when you have applied to IRCC for PR.
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Submitting Your Express Entry Profile:
In order to complete your EE profile, you first need to get an
Educational Credential Assessment (ECA), if your educational qualifications (diplomas, degrees, etc.) were not awarded by a Canadian tertiary institution (see link below for approved institutions) and take an
Approved Language Test (IELTS/CELPIP/TEF) (see link below):
Once you have your ECA and Language Test Results, you need to create a
myCIC account, and then create and submit your EE Profile.
The entire Express Entry process will happen through your myCIC account.
Start with the '
Come To Canada' tool (see link below) as that will check your eligibility again, before providing you with a number that will help you carry over your answers into your EE profile, and then direct you creating your account:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/ee-start.asp
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Costs/Fees Associated with Applying Under Express Entry:
Expect to spend anywhere from CAD$500 - $2,000 getting your ECA and language test results, depending on which assessment organization you select, how many credentials you need assessed, which language test you choose to take, and in which country, and how often you have to take the test (or have results re-evaluated) to get decent results. If you have a spouse, and plan to have his/her educational degrees assessed and have him/her take a language test to increase your CRS Score, you'll need to consider the costs for him/her as well. The rest of the Express Entry profile has no associated cost.
If you get an ITA, and submit an eAPR, you will have to pay at least CAD$1050 (more if you have dependents accompanying you). This represents the application processing cost recovery fee and the 'Right to Permanent Residence' Fee (RPRF).
There will also be costs associated with collecting the documents you need for the eAPR, including but not limited to your medical exam fees, the fees to obtain your police clearance certificates, and any fees to obtain letters from your financial institutions to show proof of funds. These costs vary by person, depending on their particular application (and the resulting required documents) and where they live, but I paid approximately CAD$300 to get all of my documents together. If you have dependents, whether they are accompanying you to Canada or not, you will need to get medical exams done for them as well, along with police clearance certificates if they are over 18.
To be eligible for FSW, unless you have a valid offer of employment in Canada WITH a valid labour market impact assessment (LMIA), you will also need to prove that you have at least CAD$12,300 in available, unencumbered funds to settle adequately in Canada (and this amount can't be obtained through procuring a loan). If you have dependents, you have to show more, depending on how many dependents you have, even if they're not accompanying you to Canada.
All in all, the entire process will cost between approximately CAD$1,600 - CAD$3,100 (for a single applicant with no dependents), and you will need to be able to show at least an additional CAD$12,300 in available, unencumbered funds to satisfy the settlement funds requirement (for a single applicant with no dependents).
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Timeline for Express Entry:
From start to finish ('start' being the decision to apply under EE, applying for an ECA, and registering for a language test, and 'finish' being landing in Canada and becoming a PR), the entire process can take anywhere from 4 months to 2 years, depending on how quickly you complete certain activities and procure certain documents, how high your CRS Score is (which dictates how quickly you can get an ITA), and how quickly IRCC processes your completed eAPR (the average processing time is 6 months, although some people get through in as quickly as 1 month, and others have been waiting 1.5 years...)
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No Guarantees...
There is no guarantee of getting PR even after taking the decision to apply, as there are several points throughout the process where you can be derailed (e.g. your CRS score may not be high enough and you may never get an ITA; OR if you get an ITA, you may not submit all of your documents in time to submit your application by the 90-day deadline; OR if you submit your application, IRCC might find something wrong with (for example, a missing or inadequate document) and may cancel or refuse your application). If your application is cancelled for being incomplete, IRCC will refund your processing fee and your RPRF, if you paid it upfront. If your application is refused, you'll be refunded the RPRF if you paid it upfront.
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Good luck!
