EXPRESS ENTRY
A selection system for Canadian immigration, designed to select skilled workers for immigration to Canada.
Express Entry is a completely electronic process involving the federal government, provincial governments, and Canadian employers. In order to best serve your needs, please choose whether you are a potential candidate for Canadian immigration or a Canadian employer interested in hiring skilled workers.
Express Entry is not an immigration program in itself, but rather a system used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to select candidates for immigration to Canada using the following economic immigration programs:
- Federal Skilled Worker Class
- Federal Skilled Trades Class
- Canadian Experience Class
- Some part of Provincial Nominee Programs
Determine your eligibility and Process
If you are eligible, you can move on to the next step in the process.
If you are not currently eligible, you may strive to become eligible by improving your core human capital factors in areas such as your skills, work experience, language ability, and education credentials. Becoming eligible for one of the federal economic immigration programs is the first step toward immigrating to Canada through Express Entry.
Complete an online Express Entry profile
Candidates for Canadian permanent residence who are eligible for one of the federal economic immigration programs make an expression of interest in immigrating to Canada by creating an online profile. They provide information about their skills, work experience, language ability, education, and other personal information.
Candidates who meet the criteria of one of the aforementioned federal economic immigration programs are placed in a pool of candidates who are ranked according to a Comprehensive Ranking System. If a candidate does not already have a valid job offer from a Canadian employer or a provincial nomination, he or she may register with Canada’s Job Bank. As of June 6, 2017, registration in Canada’s Job Bank is no longer mandatory. However, registering in the Job Bank may improve a candidate’s visibility to Canadian employers.
Improve your profile and ranking
Candidates in the Express Entry pool are ranked according to the Comprehensive Ranking System, which ranks candidates under the following components:
- core human capital factors;
- accompanying spouse or common-law partner factors, if applicable;
- skill transfer ability factors; and
- Factors relating to a provincial nomination, qualifying offer of arranged employment, Canadian study experience, a sibling in Canada, and/or French language ability.
There is a total of 1,200 points available under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).
How to prepare for Express Entry
- Prepare for language exams
- IELTS Preparation Online Course — prepare and get the results you need to immigrate to Canada.
- French language testing, including the (TEF Canada), and the (TCF Canada).
- Get your foreign credentials assessed according to Canadian standards.
- Learn more about the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) and use the free CRS Calculator tool.
- Deal with any medical inadmissibility or criminal inadmissibility issues you may have.
- Browse available Provincial Nominee Programs that have an enhanced stream aligned with Express Entry.
- Use the Search tool to search for available positions across Canada.
UNDERSTANDING CSR CALCULATOR
The Comprehensive Ranking System ranks eligible candidates for immigration to Canada through Express Entry under the following components:
Core human capital factors;
Skill transfer ability factors; and
Additional factors relating to a provincial nomination, a qualifying offer of arranged employment, Canadian study experience, a sibling in Canada, and/or French language ability
Candidates in the Express Entry pool can also take steps to improve their profile and increase their CRS score
Breakdown of Points
There is a total of 1,200 points available under the Comprehensive Ranking System.
For candidates without an accompanying spouse or common-law partner, there are:
- a maximum of 500 points available for core human capital factors;
- a maximum of 100 points available for skill transferability factors; and
- 600 points available for additional factors (including a provincial nomination, an offer of arranged employment, Canadian study experience, a sibling in Canada, and/or French language ability).
For candidates with an accompanying spouse or common-law partner, there are:
- a maximum of 460 points available for core human capital factors of the principal applicant;
- a maximum of 40 points for the core human capital factors of the spouse or common-law partner;
- a maximum of 100 points available for skill transferability factors; and
- 600 points available for additional factors (including a provincial nomination, an offer of arranged employment, Canadian study experience, a sibling in Canada, and/or French language ability).
June 6, 2017, changes to the Comprehensive Ranking Systeminclude additional points awarded to candidates with French ability and to candidates with a sibling in Canada.
French ability
- 15 additional points for French-speaking candidates who prove adequate intermediate (equivalent to Canadian Language Benchmark 7) or better French ability, and English language test result of CLB 4 or lower, or no English test results at all.
- 30 additional points for French-speaking candidates who prove adequate intermediate or better French ability, and who also prove English language test result of CLB 5 or better.
Sibling in Canada
| Age (in years) | With an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 100) | Without an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 110) |
| under 18 | 0 points | 0 points |
| 18 | 90 | 99 |
| 19 | 95 | 105 |
| 20-29 | 100 | 110 |
| 30 | 95 | 105 |
| 31 | 90 | 99 |
| 32 | 85 | 94 |
| 33 | 80 | 88 |
| 34 | 75 | 83 |
| 35 | 70 | 77 |
| 36 | 65 | 72 |
| 37 | 60 | 66 |
| 38 | 55 | 61 |
| 39 | 50 | 55 |
| 40 | 45 | 50 |
| 41 | 35 | 39 |
| 42 | 25 | 28 |
| 43 | 15 | 17 |
| 44 | 5 | 6 |
| 45 or older | 0 | 0 |
- 15 additional points for candidates with a sibling in Canada who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of at least 18 years of age. These points may also be awarded if the candidate’s spouse or common-law partner has a sibling in Canada. The candidate or his or her spouse/common-law partner mustsharemother and/or father with the sibling in Canada. This relationship can be through blood, adoption, marriage, or common-law partnership.
Comprehensive Ranking System: Core Human Capital Factors
For the purposes of this table, “PA” refers to the principal applicant and “spouse” refers to the spouse or common-law partner.
Age
Level of education
| Level of education | With an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 140 for PA, 10 for spouse) |
Without an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 150) |
| Less than secondary (high) school credential | 0 points | 0 points |
| Secondary school credential | 28 for PA; 2 for spouse | 30 |
| One-year post-secondary program | 84 for PA; 6 for spouse | 90 |
| Two-year post-secondary program | 91 for PA; 7 for spouse | 98 |
| Post-secondary program of 3 or more years | 112 for PA; 8 for spouse | 120 |
| Two or more post-secondary programs, of which at least one was completed after a post-secondary program of three or more years | 119 for PA; 9 for spouse | 128 |
| Master’s or entry-to-practice professional degree | 126 for PA; 10 for spouse | 135 |
| Doctoral Degree (PhD) | 140 for PA; 10 for spouse | 150 |
First Language Ability (English or French)
| Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) | With an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 128 for PA; 20 for spouse) | Without an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 136) |
| For each language ability | 32 points for PA; 5 points for spouse | 34 points |
| CLB 3 or lower | 0 | 0 |
| CLB 4 | 6 for PA; 0 for spouse | 6 |
| CLB 5 | 6 for PA; 1 for spouse | 6 |
| CLB 6 | 8 for PA; 1 for spouse | 9 |
| CLB 7 | 16 for PA; 3 for spouse | 17 |
| CLB 8 | 22 for PA; 3 for spouse | 23 |
| CLB 9 | 29 for PA; 5 for spouse | 31 |
| CLB 10 or higher | 32 for PA; 5 for spouse | 34 |
*Points in the above chart are for each language ability: speaking, writing, reading and listening, respectively.
Second Language Ability (English or French)
| Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) | With an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 22) | Without an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 24) |
| For each language ability | 6 | 6 |
| CLB 4 or lower | 0 | 0 |
| CLB 5 or 6 | 1 | 1 |
| CLB 7 or 8 | 3 | 3 |
| CLB 9 or higher | 6 | 6 |
*Points in the above chart are for each language ability: speaking, writing, reading and listening, respectively.
Canadian Work Experience
| Number of years | With an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 70 for PA; 10 for spouse) | Without an accompanying spouse (maximum points available: 80) |
| Less than 1 | 0 points | 0 points |
| 1 year | 35 for PA; 5 for spouse | 40 |
| 2 years | 46 for PA; 7 for spouse | 53 |
| 3 years | 56 for PA; 8 for spouse | 64 |
| 4 years | 63 for PA; 9 for spouse | 72 |
| 5 years or more | 70 for PA; 10 for spouse | 80 |
Comprehensive Ranking System: Skill Transferability Factors
A maximum of 100 points are awarded for a candidate’s skill transferability factors. There are five combinations of such skill transferability, with a maximum of 50 points awarded for each combination. Even if a candidate scores more than 100 points in total, only 100 points will be awarded under the Comprehensive Ranking System. Candidates with or without an accompanying spouse or common-law partner are awarded points for skill transferability in exactly the same way. There are no points available for the skill transferability of a candidate’s spouse or common-law partner.
For the purposes of this table, “CLB” refers to Canadian Language Benchmark.
Education and Canadian Work Experience
| Education | 1 year of Canadian work experience | 2 or more years of Canadian work experience |
| No post-secondary education | 0 | 0 |
| Post-secondary education of 1 year or longer | 13 | 25 |
| Two or more post-secondary credentials, the first of which was 3 or more years in duration | 25 | 50 |
Education and Language Ability
| Education | CLB 7 or higher on all language abilities, with at least one of these CLB 8 | CLB 9 or higher for all language abilities |
| No post-secondary education | 0 | 0 |
| Post-secondary education of 1 year or longer | 13 | 25 |
| Two or more post-secondary credentials, the first of which was 3 or more years in duration |
25 | 50 |
Language Ability and Non-Canadian Work Experience
| Non-Canadian Work Experience | CLB 7 or higher on all language abilities, with at least one of these CLB 8 | CLB 9 or higher for all language abilities |
| No non-Canadian work experience | 0 | 0 |
| 1 or 2 years of non-Canadian work experience | 13 | 25 |
| 3 or more years of non-Canadian work experience | 25 | 50 |
Canadian and non-Canadian Work Experience
| Experience | 1 year of Canadian work experience | 2 or more years of Canadian work experience |
| No non-Canadian work experience | 0 | 0 |
| 1 or 2 years of non-Canadian work experience | 13 | 25 |
| 3 or more years of non-Canadian work experience | 25 | 50 |
Certificate of Qualification in a Trade and Language Ability
| Certificate of Qualification | CLB 5 or higher on all language abilities, with at least one CLB 5 or 6 | CLB 7 or higher on all language abilities |
| Certificate of qualification in a trade occupation issued by a province | 25 | 50 |
Comprehensive Ranking System: Additional Points
| Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) nomination certificate | Points |
| For an enhanced nomination certificate from a Canadian province (except Quebec) | 600 points |
| Qualifying offer of arranged employment | Points |
| For a qualifying job offer of arranged employment from a Canadian employer if the offer is in an occupation contained inMajor Group 00 Senior Management Occupations | 200 points |
| For a qualifying job offer of arranged employment from a Canadian employer if the offer is any other qualifying offer of arranged employment | 50 points |
| Canadian study experience | Points |
| If the candidate has an eligible credential from a one-year or two-year post-secondary program in Canada | 15 points |
| If the candidate has either: |