Express Entry Canada
(Federal Skilled Worker Program)
Express Entry is not a category of immigration to Canada but is a system placed to oversee immigration applications for permanent residence under the federal economic immigration programs. The prospective candidates must enter into a “pool” and individuals with the highest ranking score will be invited to apply for permanent residence.
The economic immigration programs include the Federal Skilled Workers Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and the Canadian Experience Class.
In January 2015, the government of Canada launched a new electronic immigration system (Online) that provides express entry to Canada for skilled and eligible immigrants.
For long term economic growth of the country, the Canadian government has accepted the fact that Canada requires new foreign nationals or immigrants who will meet future labour market needs. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will proactively and energetically select the candidates under the new system. The qualifications can be assessed under the following programs:
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP): The Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program is for individuals who are selected to immigrate to Canada on account of their work experience and skills.
Federal Skilled Trade Program: The Federal Skilled Trade Program (FSTP) is for the potential candidates who want to become a permanent resident of Canada based on the qualifications as a skilled trade worker. To fulfill the requirements, a prospective candidate should need minimum work experience and language ability.
The Canadian Experience Class: The Canadian Experience Class is an immigration program intends to help the temporary foreign residents (workers or students) who already have Canadian work experience and want to apply for permanent residence. There is a transition from temporary residents to permanent residence, in the Canada Experience Class taking into account the time that foreign nations spent in Canada while contributing to the Canadian society.
The Express Entry Pool system is based on a candidate’s Comprehensive Ranking Score. The score is made with points gained on the basis of age, education, work experience, language ability and other factors. If an individual’s score matches or exceeds the minimum score requirement he will be sent an Invitation to Apply by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The candidate gets 60 days to submit a complete application along with all the supporting documents.
Applying for Express Entry doesn’t make you eligible for immigrating to Canada, you will be ranked among all the applicants and those who score the highest will be selected first.
