Express Entry
Express Entry came with a humungous increase in the occupational tiers (250+ occupations as compared to 50 occupations as of January 2015. It also replaces the need to the dexterous manual forms filling process (as before Jan 2015) and allows the input of data through an easy digital questionnaire-oriented system. It also reduces the margin of unpredictability such as lost courier dispatches and unusually extended response times between Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Candidates.
Express Entry allows candidates from across the globe to jump into a single on-line pool of candidates by meeting the Minimum Eligibility Criteria (MEC) to be considered for a fortnightly draw conducted by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in which a minimum cut-off score is decided solely by the concerned immigration office. Candidates falling on or above the decided cut-off score are skimmed out of the pool.
More so, Express Entry is now the only policy that caters to the major economic skilled immigration streams such as:
- Federal Skilled Worker Program
- Federal Skilled Trades Program
- Canadian Experience Class
- Provincial Nomination Programs (partially)
How Express Entry Works:
Keeping in mind a laymen’s ease of understanding, Express Entry can be covered within three easy steps with some sub-steps in each of the main steps as follows:
The first step is lodge an expression of interest by meeting the following:
- Get your foreign credential assessed according to the Canadian academic standards (takes about 60-90 days)
- Prepare for the relevant Language Exam
- Case Preparation / Case Information Management around the academic, professional and residential tenures
After completing the above-mentioned, a candidate can jump into the pool of candidates to be considered for subsequent Rounds of Invitations (also referred as fortnightly draws), out of which the highest scoring candidates are skimmed according to the decided minimum Cut-Off Score from IRCC.
IRCC conducts a fortnightly draw without any fixed pattern or date and decides the minimum cut-off score as per their labor market need and the quality of candidates in the pool. Usually there is at-least one draw in a month with some months experiencing more than one draw as well.
Another interesting element to note here is that every round of invitation has a different minimum cut-off score and is generally varying within 15-20 points decrease/increase in the score without a regular ascending or descending pattern. Therefore the candidates are advised to review the minimum and maximum variance between last 06 months’ rounds of invitation to have an idea around the Range of Selection Cut-off Scores and jump into the pool of candidates as soon as possible specially if their CRS scores are close the 06 months’ average selection range to attract maximum selection prospects.
If a candidate’s score falls on or above minimum cut-off score for that particular round of invitation, an invitation to apply will be disseminated to the respective candidate without any priority on the occupation and quota to a large extent. Invitation to Apply is generally the most important task of the whole process as the rest afterwards is only compliance to information / documentation requests till the case conclusion.
After receiving an Invitation to Apply, the candidates are given a 60 days timeline to comply with the major supporting documentation such as:
- Undergo Medical Examination
- Settlement Funds Requirement
- Employment Reference Letters along-with additional evidence
- Police Clearance Certificate and other civil documents
- Applicable Processing Fees as per the family composition
IRCC practically consumes 06-08 months from the point of ITA Submission to process and conclude an application after the verification and other background checks. Most applications are concluded within 06 months, however it may take more time depending on the nature of the cases and how they pan out in document compliance phases.
Eventually, if the verification checks go through fine; the candidates are requested to submit their passports at the relevant Canada Visa Application Centre for visa issuance.