Express Entry Immigration Program: What is It and How Does It Work?

An Overview

With strong economic structure, outstanding working opportunities across diverse industries including medical, engineering, pharmaceuticals, construction, banking and others, Canada has always been an ideal destination for job seekers. Every year, thousands of people from across the world apply for the Canadian Work Permit under various federal economic immigration programs. Due to many formalities and tedious processing time, applicants have to wait for years to obtain the visa. But, the potential applicants will not have to wait long for getting their visa application assessed, as the Citizenship and Immigration Canada is all set to introduce Express Entry Immigration Program very soon. The Express Entry Immigration Program is a new electronic system to manage applications for permanent residence. This system has been introduced to speed up process of recruitment, assessment and selection of  skilled immigrants under the following economic immigration programs in order to cater prevailing and emerging labor market needs. 

·         The Federal Skilled Worker Program,

·         The Federal Skilled Trades Program, and

·         The Canadian Experience Class

Provinces and territories of Canada will also be able to assess the application through the new immigration program to meet their needs for skilled immigrants.

How does it work?

Under the Express Entry Immigration Program, the applications are selected in two different steps. 

Step 1-Express Entry Profile: 

Candidates who wish to work in Canada will be required to complete and submit an online Express Entry Profile. In this profile they have to provide detailed information about their skills, language ability, education, work experience and others. Profiles that will meet the criteria of one of the federal economic immigration programs will be forwarded to a pool of candidates. Here, the applications will be ranked against others. Candidates with the highest-ranked and with arranged employment will be invited to apply for the permanent residence. Candidates with no job offers from the Canadian employer must get themselves registered with the Government of Canada’ Job Bank.

Selected candidates will have to obtain a Labor Market Impact Assessment from Employment and Social Development Canada, if applicable. 

Step-2- Invitation

Selected candidates will be invited to apply for permanent residence by Citizen and Immigration Canada. The invited applications will be processed within six months. Then, candidates will have to submit an electronic application for permanent residence through one of the following programs:

·         Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP);

·         Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP);

·         Canadian Experience Class (CEC); or,

·         A portion of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

If you are also planning to apply for the Canadian Work Permit in the near future, then it is imperative for you to know about the changing immigration trends. Immigration Overseas, an immigration legal firm, is glad to help you with all the ever-changing rules and regulations. At our end, we provide services for Visa Canada, so skilled workers who wish to immigrate to the country can realize their dreams.