Unless you're going the PNP route, no profession has more of a chance than any other to be approved for PR. As long as your job falls into the NOC Type 0, A, or B category, your chances of being invited to apply are equal, all other variables remaining equal. Please see below for answers to your other questions:
Costs/Fees Associated with Applying for PR under Express Entry
EE Profile Expenses
As a single applicant, 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.
Application Completion Expenses
If you get an ITA, and choose to submit an eAPR, there will also be costs associated with collecting the documents you need for the eAPR, including but not limited to medical exam fees, the fees to obtain 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. (I personally paid approximately CAD$475 to get all of my single-applicant documents together).
Application Processing Cost Recovery Fee and the 'Right to Permanent Residence' Fee (RPRF)
If you submit an eAPR, you will have to pay at least CAD$1040 as a single applicant
(and more if you have dependents accompanying you). This represents the application processing cost recovery fee and the 'Right to Permanent Residence' Fee (RPRF). The application processing cost recovery fee must be paid at the time of submitting your application, but the RPRF can be paid at a later point during your application’s processing; IRCC will contact you if and when you need to pay this.
FSW Applicants’ Required Settlement Funds
To be eligible for FSW, (unless you have VALID arranged employment in Canada WITH a valid labour market impact assessment (LMIA) if your job isn't LMIA-exempt), 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. (CEC applicants do not need to provide proof of settlement funds).
All in all, the entire process will cost between approximately CAD$1,800 - CAD$3,500
(for a single applicant with no dependents), and most FSW applicants 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).
And of course, if you’re not already in Canada, if and when your application for permanent residency is approved, you’ll also need to factor in the costs of your plane ticket/trip across the US/Canada border in order to ‘land’ and claim your permanent residency, as well as any costs associated with eventually moving to Canada to settle their permanently.
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 2 months to 2.5 years. The time frame depends on:
- How quickly you complete the activities (ECA and language tests) needed to submit your EE profile (anywhere from 1 to 6 months, depending on how quickly you can get a language test sitting)
- How high your CRS Score is (which dictates how quickly you can get an Invitation To Apply (ITA)) (anywhere from 1 day to 3 weeks if your CRS Score is initially high enough; indefinite if your score isn’t initially high enough)
- How quickly you complete the activities and procure the documents needed to submit your eAPR (electronic application for permanent residency) once you are invited to apply (anywhere from 1 day to 3 months, depending on when you started procuring documents and how cooperative your employers and the necessary 3rd parties in your country are in supporting you)
- How quickly IRCC processes your completed eAPR once you've submitted it, which is completely outside of your control (the average processing time is 6 months for 80% of applicants, although some people have been approved in as little as 1 month, and others have been waiting 2 years...)
