The thought of immigration to a foreign land was something that came to my mind in January 2019. Poor work culture, civic infra and general quality of life lead me to think about moving base. Since I am only 25 and unmarried, there was not too much that I had to think of, while making this decision. The biggest factor behind this being, that I have breathing difficulties and
I did visit a couple of immigration consultants, to understand the process once I had made my mind up that I would be definitely moving abroad (or at least trying to). I hired one consultant for helping me out with this process, since I was actually unaware about a lot of stuff back then.
In hindsight, that could’ve been avoided, since the PR process is quite straightforward I believe and one can actually go through it all by themselves.
I reiterate, you
DO NOT need to hire a consultant or an attorney, but you may do so, if you feel your application is complex and you need help with that.
Now the Federal Express Entry Program, is the most sought-after stream for immigration, but not the only stream for immigrating to Canada. However, I will only talk about this program, since I did not have any interest neither did I go through any other program.
The Federal Express Entry Program is only valid for occupations falling under the National Occupation Classification job groups :
• Managerial jobs (skill type 0)
• Professional jobs (skill level A)
• Technical jobs and skilled trades (skill level B)
You can find out your NOC code from the following link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...tion-code.html
E.g. : The job codes for IT development lie in the range of 2171 to 2175
You need to score at least
67 out of 100 on the Federal Skilled Worker Program points grid, to be applicable for Federal Express Entry Program. You may refer to the grid at this link :
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...d-workers.html
The Federal Express Entry program is purely a points based immigration system and provides you points for 4 major factors:
Those falling in the age range of 18-29 are awarded the maximum points, while each subsequent year deducts 5 points from the score
- Education (Canadian or its equivalent)
- One needs to get their education degrees assessed by any of the assessing agencies – WES/IQAS/ICAS/CES. These agencies assess the educational credential and provide the candidate a report which states that the degree is equivalent of a Canadian degree (bachelor’s/master’s etc.)
- Please note: Due to concerns about fraudulent degrees, most of these institutions now require that the detailed transcripts are sent to them in a sealed and signed envelope directly by the awarding institution.
- Also note that you would want the transcripts to be issued by the institute and not the college that you have studied. E.g. If you have a degree from MDU, the transcripts have to be sent by MDU and not the college under MDU which has awarded that degree
- This step is the most time-consuming step of the whole process. Current TAT from WES is about 3 months, while when I gave my credentials for assessment , I got the report within 1.5 months.
- Due to the sheer volume of credentials sent for assessment, IQAS has paused intake of applications from November 2019 to 19 May 2020, to clear the backlog. IQAS was the most preferred option, since it was quite liberal in awarding Master’s equivalency.
- WES or World Education Services , is the most popular agency for credential evaluation, while also being the fastest. However do note, they only award Master’s equivalency if your MBA/M.Tech is from IIM/IIT. Otherwise they assess it as dual bachelor’s or a bachelor and a diploma in case of PGDM.
- Also note that WES has an online tool for checking the validity of the degree and institute of your education. However that tool is just indicative and one should not rely on it to decide whether WES will recognize the credential or not. If your course/degree is approved by AICTE, then you will get a positive assessment in 99% of the cases
I just had a Bachelor’s degree to evaluate, hence went ahead with WES. I had initially gone ahead with IQAS, since the WES tool did not mention my university, however on checking with my University, I got to know that they do assessments for WES as well and hence I cancelled my IQAS assessment and went ahead with WES, for the sole reason that it was faster
- Language Proficiency [IELTS(for English) and/or TEF(for French)]
One can get score for two languages in the Canadian Immigration Process –
• English (IELTS/CELPIP):
One should aim to score atleast 8777 in the four modules of the IELTS exam (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking) . This exam is fairly simple, with only caveat being that one needs to pay extra attention to the writing section, since they are most stingy in awarding marks for that section.
o I gave my IELTS exam on 2nd March 2019 and scored overall 8.5 bands (out of 9) and my individual scores came out to (L – 8.5, R – 9.0 , S – 8.0 , W – 7.5). This is the maximum score that is possible to attain, which is Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 10 for each of the modules.
o IELTS is offered by British Council and IDP, and it’s a personal choice over which institute does one want to go with, for the exam. Both the institutes offer option of Pen and paper based exam as well as Computer based exam
o One needs to write the General IELTS exam and not the Academic one, since that is only for educational purposes
• French (TCF/TEF):
Candidates are also awarded points for French language scores. The exact score and benchmark may be referred to at the link shared above in the post
Candidates are also awarded points for both Canadian as well as foreign (outside Canada) work experience. A candidate must have at least one year of continuous work experience in the primary NOC that is selected by them. In case one has Canadian experience as well, there are additional points awarded.
Apart from the above factors, there are few other factors that can help one score additional points in this process:
- Blood Relative Living in Canada
- Valid job offer from a Canadian Firm :
If a candidate has a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) approved job offer from a Canadian firm , they are awarded an additional 50 points. However this is really hard to come by as the LMIA is a cumbersome and expensive process, along with being time consuming and hence one should consider themselves really lucky If they are able to get this
If a candidate is nominated by any of the 9 provinces in Canada, they receive an additional 600 points over and above the points that they get based on the factors above. There are two kinds of Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) :
• Express Entry Linked PNP:
The provinces which follow this kind of PNP, select candidates from the Federal Express Entry Pool , based on the requirements of their province. (Generally those requirements are around the NOC job codes). These Provinces send out a Notification of Interest (NOI) to the candidates and the can choose to accept or reject this.
In case a candidate accepts this, they have to submit their documents to the province for verification. The province verifies the documents and awards the candidates the 600 points. There may or may not be additional processing fee that one will have to shell out to the provinces
E.g: Ontario charges 1500 CAD for processing while Saskatchewan charges 300 CAD
• Standalone PNP :
There PNPs are where one has to file an Expression of Interest on the respective portal of the Province. If selected in a draw, the candidate will have to submit the documents for verification, post which 600 points will be awarded
I created my Express Entry profile on the 18th of July with CRS (Comprehensive Ranking Score) of 441 and got a NOI from Ontario on the 1st of August under their Tech Draw initiative (inviting certain profiles pertaining to the IT sector). I submitted my documents to Ontario on the 29th of August 2019 and got my nomination from them on the 19th of November
In case one wants to calculate their CRS, they may do so at the following link :
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...d-workers.html Note : You also get additional points for Spouses’ IELTS and education.
Post getting the nomination, my CRS became 1041, while the CRS range for 2019 had been between 438 (lowest, only touched this score once in January) to 475
The average CRS for the 2 years prior to CRS had been 441, while the increasing popularity and awareness has caused this score to shoot up. Anyone having a CRS of less than 465, should aim for one of the PNPs, based on the trend since February last year.
The Canadian Immigration authority (IRCC) conducts bi-weekly draws and invites about 3400 candidates on an average each time. The score of the 3400th (for example) candidate becomes the lowest score to be invited for that draw. In case of multiple people at that score, there is a cut-off rule applied and the older profile gets the preference.
I got an ITA (Invitation to Apply) on the 10th of December, 2019 with CRS of 1041. I have submitted my application to IRCC on the 31st of January 2020 and expect to receive my PR in about 6 months from that time.
Costs Involved Education Credential Assessment: ~220 CAD (for WES) Some agencies charge extra fee for more than one credential, which is not the case with WES
IELTS:~13.5k INR
PNP (if Applicable) :From Free to max 1500 CAD
Medicals:~5.5k INR
Police Clearance Certificate:500 INR
Post ITA fee –
• Processing Fee (per applicant)– 550 CAD
• Right of Permanent Residence Fee (per applicant) – 490 CAD
• Dependent child (per child)– 150 CAD
• Biometrics fee (per applicant)– 85 CAD
In addition to these application cost, you also need to show that you have sufficient settlement funds to support yourself and your family after you land in Canada. This amount varies on the number of people immigrating. For a single applicant, the amount is
12,960 CAD, which is about
7.3 Lakh INR
You may refer to the link for Proof of Fund requirements :
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...oof-funds.html Note : In case a candidate is married but is only immigrating alone initially and plans to sponsor their family later on, the proof of funds will still have to be provided for the complete family
I think this covers all aspects, as far as Express Entry – Federal Skilled Workers Program is concerned. I will add on my experience further once my file moves along the various stages of processing, right until getting the PR.
Note: I have not put specific document requirements in this post. This is only to help one understand the processes involved and the timelines around the same.
All the best to anyone who feels motivated to take on this journey.
Mods : Please move it to a new thread if necessary