About 4 years ago, Canada adopted a new system — Express Entry — for organizing and processing applications for Canadian permanent residence. The system is now used for processing the bulk of immigration applications for skilled workers that intend coming to the country.

It is pertinent to keep in mind that Express Entry isn’t a program but a system that manages your applications to 3 different immigration programs, with each targeted at skilled workers. These programs are Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Federal Skilled Trades (FST) as well as Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Also, a lot of Provincial Nomination Programs (PNPs) are in alignment with the Express Entry system.

Understanding the 3 Immigration Programs

All 3 programs under Express Entry are merit-based. This implies applicants are ranked against one another through the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), which is based on the info you put in your profile, like age, work experience, level of education, ability to adapt to life in the country, and language proficiency. Candidates that earn the highest ranking scores are sent an invite to start their application for permanent residence at the federal level to the IRCC, an acronym for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Do bear in mind that your CRS score as an Express Entry candidate isn’t affected by the program under which you are eligible. Thus, all candidates in the Express Entry system compete against one other to be invited to apply, irrespective of the program that they’re eligible for.

Federal Skilled Worker (FSW)

This program is targeted at young candidates with skilled work experience as well as language proficiency, high-levels of education, along with the ability to adapt to Canada. The FSW program doesn’t require you to have a connection to Canada, making it ideal for you, as a skilled worker, who hasn’t acquired Canadian education or work experience.

Federal Skilled Trades (FST)

The FST program is specifically for candidates with skilled work experience in one of the trades occupations regulated by Canada. This program has minimal requirements for education and for language proficiency, but requires that you satisfy one of these 2 conditions:

1. A valid job offer from an organization in the country
2. A certificate of qualification to professionally practise your trade in any province or territory in Canada

Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

The CEC program is for those candidates with Canadian work experience. For you to qualify for this program, you must have a minimum of one-year full-time, skilled work experience in this country, which is completed within the last three years (36 months). The Canadian Experience Class program is perfect for you if you are an international graduate in Canada that is working in a Canadian company, firm, agency using a Post-Graduation Work Permit, or if you have experience as temporary foreign workers.

Canadian Express Entry Requirements

Candidates have to satisfy the eligibility requirements of one of the three programs (Federal Skilled Workers; Federal Skilled Trades; and Canadian Experience Class) for them to qualify for the Express Entry system. The programs have a lot of common requirements that you can use to determine your eligibility:

Level of Skills: All applicants have to possess skilled work experience. The government of Canada employs the National Occupation Classification (NOC) system for assessing your skill type as well as your level of different types of employment. Any position that has the skill level 0, A, or B, in the NOC database, is qualified as skilled work experience.

Work Experience: The 3 programs are created for candidates that possess work experience. You must have at least 12-months (or one year) of full-time, skilled work experience. An equivalent amount in part-time is also acceptable. Each of the 3 programs contains more specific guidelines. However, the work experience requirement ensures that the program is not suitable for those candidates that are yet to enter the workforce.

Language Requirement: All 3 programs under the Express Entry system require that you have a certain degree of proficiency in one of the official languages of Canada, either English or French. Though the required proficiency level is not the same in the 3 programs, if you are interested in applying for all of them, you have to submit the latest results you got from an approved language test.

Basic Admissibility Requirements: If you are an applicant who is accepted via Express Entry programs, you have to satisfy the basic admissibility requirements of Canada for permanent residence. Some of these requirements are, making sure that candidates don’t have extensive criminal backgrounds or medical issues.

Minimum Requirements for the FSW Program

These include the following:

Skilled Work Experience: As an applicant for the FSW program, you have to possess a minimum of one year, in the last 10 years before submitting an application for your permanent residence, of continuous full-time work experience (or its equivalent as a continuouspart-time worker). For either of the 2, the work experience must be garnered in a skilled occupation, which is listed in Skill Type 0, or Skill Level A or B of Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) version, introduced in the year 2016.

Education: You have to supply a Canadian educational credential. If you don’t have this, you can provide a foreign educational credential instead, along with an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report obtained from a designated agency to serve as evidence that your overseas certificate, degree, or diploma is equivalent to a completed Canadian credential. Do note that you will be awarded points based on your completed Canadian educational credential or the equivalent value of your foreign educational credential weighted in Canadian standards.

Language Ability: You have to show you satisfy or exceed the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7’s language threshold with test results that are obtained from a language testing organization designated by the IRCC.

Once you satisfy all the minimum requirements, your application will be assessed based on the selection factors that are specified in the federal skilled worker (FSW) points grid.

Start your Canadian Express Entry Visa by submitting an Express Entry profile. You can also learn more about how Express Entry works.