The Express Entry Program is a platform developed by the Canadian Government to attract workers that are high skilled to Canada. This Program has various sub-programs depending on your profile as follows:
- Federal Skilled Worker Program
- Federal Skilled Trades Program
- Canadian Experience Class
- Provincial Nominee Program (only uses the platform, but has different rules)
This article will go through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the details on it.
What is the Canada Experience Class?
The Canadian Experience Class Program is developed for people of foreign nationalities who have been working in Canada as temporary workers and want to become permanent residents. So if you have been working in Canada for 1 year as a full time or part time employee in the past 3 years, then you can apply for the Canada Experience Class and try to become a permanent resident.
A permanent residence through the CEC program allows you to permanently move to Canada, as well as work and live in one of the provinces. After a few years, you will also be allowed to apply for Canadian Citizenship and get a Canadian passport. You will have the same benefits as other Canadian permanent residents or citizens, including medical benefits and the ability to study in Canadian universities if you or your children choose to.
What are the requirements of Canada Experience Class?
In order to apply for the Canada Experience Class, you must first determine your eligibility. There are several requirements which you must fulfill and you can determine if you do by taking a quick test or survey on the Canadian Immigration Website. By clicking the button “Check your Eligibility”, you will go through the test which has various questions on your background. This test determines whether you fulfill the requirements and if you do, it will generate an application number which you can later use.
The survey will test you on:
- Work Experience and Occupation Level
- Language Ability and Education
- Admissibility
Work Experience and occupation level
The work experience and occupation level questions will ask you to state how long you have been working and if you have any work experience in Canada. You must have at least 1 year of work experience in Canada in the past 3 years to qualify for the CEC Program.
In addition, your work experience must be in a certain occupation level. Canada has a National Occupational Classification (NOC) document which determines the level of skills for each job. Your work experience must fall in the Skill Level 0 (managerial jobs), Skill Level A (professional jobs that usually require a degree from a university) or Skill Level B (technical jobs and skilled trades that usually require a college diploma or training as an apprentice) for that experience to be acceptable.
You must show that this job experience has included all the duties in the description of the NOC. Additionally, self-employment and work experience which you gained if you were a full time student in Canada (co-ops or internships) do not qualify for CEC. Also, if you worked in Canada but did not have legal status, then your work experience will not be accepted.
Language and education
In addition to the work experience, you must also have language skills in one of the official Canadian languages, English or French. You must take language tests which will be converted to a language proficiency scale that Canada has, the Canadian Language Benchmark. The tests must have a writing, reading, listening, and speaking component and must be valid for 2 years after you get the test results.
To qualify for the CEC program, you must have a Canadian Language Benchmark of 7 for Skill Level 0 or Skill Level A jobs or a Canadian language Benchmark of 5 for Skill Level B jobs.
As for your education credentials, the Canada Experience Class does not have a minimum specified education requirement. However, since you will have to submit your profile and be ranked according to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Calculator, then it is best to have a high level of education so as to get more points.
Admissability to Canada
Finally, you must also be admissible to Canada. Admissibility means that you fulfill the legal requirements to get a Canadian visa. This includes factors such as a clean criminal history, for you to be healthy enough to pass your medical exams and not pose a threat to Canadian national security.
You do not need a job offer to apply for the Canadian Express Entry Program; however, you must plan to get a job in any province in Canada with the exception of Quebec, since this province has its own immigration rules.
How to apply for CEC Canada?
Once you determine through the test that you fulfill the requirements, then you can start your application process. The Canada Experience Class Program, similar to the other Express Entry Programs does not accept direct applications and works similarly to ranking application system.
In order to apply for the CEC you must make sure that you are eligible and submit your profile for ranking. The ranking will be done according to many factors and you can find a detailed breakdown of the points and factors in our CRS Calculator article. The following paragraphs will take you through a series of steps to apply for the CEC.
Get supporting documents
Before you start to fill out your profile, you must make sure to have these supporting documents ready:
- A valid passport of travel document;
- Language test results (English or French);
- Education Credential Assessment Report (if necessary)
- Job offer letter from an employer in Canada (if you have one);
- Police certificates to prove you have a clean criminal record;
- Medical examination;
- Proof that you have enough funds to cover your stay in Canada if you are invited to apply;
These documents will be helpful during the application process and if you are invited to apply for permanent residence, you will have to submit them to the Canadian Embassy.
Submit your profile
The next step is for you to create an Express Entry profile. You can do that by going to the Canadian Government Website and create an account if you do not already have one. After creating the account, you must sign in and enter the reference code you got when you completed the eligibility test. The page will then show you all the fields you must fill out to complete the profile.
The profile will require your complete background history and any detail that can earn you points. You will also have space to attach your supporting documents as proof of your profile.
Once you start the profile, you will have 60 days to complete it. If you do not complete it within this timeframe, you will have to start all over again. If you are sure that you have completed your profile, you can then submit it. In the meantime, if you have any other documents that can improve your ranking such as language tests with better scores or a job offer, you can log in again and submit them for consideration.
Get invited to apply
The submitted profile gets an evaluation from the Canadian Government which ranks all the profiles according to their points. Those with the highest points get an invitation to apply for permanent residence.
There are cases when a person who has submitted their profile for a Canada Experience Class program gets an invitation for a different program and vice versa. That is why the invited applicant can either accept or reject the invitation. If you accept it, then the officials will send you further instructions and if you deny the invitation, you will have to start all over again by submitting a new profile.
Apply for permanent residence
Once you accept the invitation, you will get further instructions and forms which you will have to fill and follow carefully. You must get all the necessary supporting documents and submit everything within the deadline given to you by the Canadian Government. After you submit the documents, you will also have to pay the fees for the Canadian Experience Class. The fees for all the Express Entry programs are outlined below in Canadian dollars.
| Type of fee | $CAN |
| Economic immigration application fee | 1,040(Includes processing fee of $550 and right of permanent residence fee of $490) |
| Economic immigration application fee(without right of permanent residence fee) | 550 |
| Application fee including spouse or common-law partner | 1,040(Includes processing fee of $550 and right of permanent residence fee of $490) |
| Application fee including spouse or common-law partner(without right of permanent residence fee) | 550 |
| Application fee including a dependent child – per child | 150 |
The Canadian Government will then review you application for permanent residence to determine whether you are eligible and admissible. They will then notify you of their decision, either accepting you and giving you the visa or denying your application.
If they accept the application, you can then start making arrangements to move to Canada permanently such as booking your flights and finding a place to live. If they deny the application, the officials will inform you of the reasons and so you can try to apply again.