Canada is one of the world’s best countries to immigrate to, for its quality of life, citizenship, and various other factors. We should also note that Canada’s point-based Permanent Residency program is one of the easiest immigration programs in the world.
The Canadian government has an immigration plan to invite over 1 million new immigrants on Permanent Residence (PR) visas in the next three years. The IRCC will invite most of these newcomers under the economic immigration programs, i.e. under the skilled migration programs, such as, Express Entry System, Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), etc.
The minimum age to apply is 18 years, while there is no upper age limit. However, you get maximum points when you are in the age group of 18-35 years.
Although higher secondary is the minimum qualification, you may need more increased capabilities, depending on the occupation. You need to provide ECA (Educational Credential Assessment) from an approved assessing authority, i.e. WES, to verify your qualification as per Canadian education standards.
Earn adaptability points for your spouse’s past education, work experience, relative, etc. in Canada, or your spouse/partner has CLB 4 level of language proficiency.
If you are applying for the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) category of EE (Express Entry) system, you need to score a minimum of 67 points based on the above six factors, to qualify as an applicant.
We need to apply for the Qualification Assessment to the particular Assessing authority depending on your Qualification and Work Experience. The Assessment fee to be paid to the Assessing Authority would be between CAD 300 to CAD 350 (Non Refundable). To claim Spouse points you complete to clear Spouse Qualification Assessment and clear required English standards.
After getting the successful Qualification Assessment, and the required IELTS we need to apply for CRS (Profile Creation), ie., you are expressing your interest to apply for Canada. Currently no fee is collected for lodging the CRS by the CIC (Canadian Immigration Consultant). Your CRS will be selected from the pool based on the total points as per rank and also subject to availability of places in your occupation. In case you are selected for Province nomination program by the state you will automatically get an Invitation from the pool and your profile will be valid for 1 year from the Date of Application.
After Successfully getting your invitation, you can apply for the Final Visa and you need to apply the final visa within 60 days from the date of invitation to apply for the final Visa. The final Visa application fee to CIC is CAD 1325 (Non refundable, Subject to change). Additional VISA fees to be paid for Spouse and Children (Non refundable, subject to change).
● The Canada PR visa fee for the primary applicant is CAD $825 (primary applicant)+ Right of PR fee- CAD $500
● Spouse/common-law partner or family member fee- CAD $825+ Right of PR free CAD $500
● Child (Under 22 years of age) – CAD $225
Find below the work experience requirement for all three categories of Express Entry:
● FSW (Federal Skilled Worker) – You need to have a minimum of 1-year full-time work experience within ten years. However, to gain higher immigration points, more experience than this is required.
● FST (Federal Skilled Trades Program) – At least two years of full-time work experience in a Skilled Trade within five years.
● CEC (Canadian Experience Class) – At least one year of skilled work experience in Canada, in the last three years before.
The provincial programs are different from the mainstream federal immigration programs of Canada. Depending on the specific provincial programs, you get many benefits as an applicant, i.e.
● As an applicant, you get Liberty to choose a province to settle: You get the freedom to select a province to settle and can accordingly apply for its provincial program.
● No job offer requirement: Several provinces do not require any job offer from the applicants.
● Helps increase your CRS Score: The nomination obtained through Express Entry stream of a PNP makes you eligible to get 600 extra CRS points, which in turn immensely increases your Express Entry CRS score, making you eligible to get ITA (Invitation to apply) for Canadian PR Visa.
● Points allocated for the area of training: In few of the PNPs, i.e. Saskatchewan PNP, you also get points for the area of training.
● Low English proficiency, i.e. IELTS score: Some of the PNP streams, such as Occupation in Demand (OID) stream of Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, demand minimum CLB 4 level of language proficiency, while Express Entry demand at least CLB 7 level of language proficiency.
● Medical Exam (Approx. INR 5,500)- Though it can vary place to place
● Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) – This document may cost you around INR 1,000 or above depending upon the place you are applying.