As of January 2015, the Canadian government has launched the Express Entry system (known as EE). While Express Entry is not an immigration program in itself, It is a management system that enables Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to manage a number of immigration programs in a unique way. The system now manages a number of different immigration programs which are:

• The Federal Skilled Worker Program (Known as FSWP)
• The Federal Skilled Trades Program (known as FSTP)
• The Canadian Experience Class (Known as CEC) and
• A portion of the Provincial Nominee Programs (Known as PNPs)

The Express Entry is designed to achieve many goals such as:

• Help make the processing times faster for prospective skilled foreign workers
• Facilitate an easier way for candidates to secure a job before they arrive by enabling matches with Canadian employers
• Enabling CIC to prioritize applications to put those who are most likely to succeed in Canada forward, by sending them an Invitation to Apply (Known as ITA).
• Assists provinces with locating potential candidates who would join their respective communities and become economically established with measurable contributions to the province’s economy and the Canadian economy in general.

Express Entry Steps

In the Express Entry system, you have mainly two steps as follows:

1- Creating your online profile

In this stage, you express your interest in coming to Canada by creating an Express Entry profile and providing information about your skills, work experience, language ability, education and other details.

If the collective result of your personal information qualifies you to create a profile in the Express Entry system, your record will be created and will be placed in a “Pool” along with all the other eligible profiles created before you. We will discuss eligibility criteria for each program in future articles.

Another step you can do here (important, though not mandatory any more), is to register with Canada’s Job Bank. This is useful if you do not have a Canadian job offer or a Provincial/Territorial nomination. You can then promote yourself and signal your presence in the Express Entry pool to employers, recruiters, private sector job boards, etc.

2- Invitation to Apply (ITA)

You can receive an Invitation to Apply if you:

• Have a valid job offer from a Canadian employer
• Have a provincial or territorial nomination
• Are among the top ranked in the Express Entry pool based on your skills, education and experience

Once you receive an Invitation to Apply, you will have 90 days to submit an online application for permanent residence in one of the programs run by the Express Entry system. CIC promises to process complete applications within six months or less.

Our expert staff in The Law Office of Evangeline Ancheta can help you through this process from A to Z. If you have any questions, please send us a message and we will respond to you promptly.