There isn’t really a “slow entry” any more. Express entry is the normal way to apply to become a permanent resident (PR).
Express entry is a replacement for an older, slower, process. In order to increase immigration, it was introduced in 2015, and created a streamlined system based on points for skills, family considerations and job offers.
When everything is working well, express entry takes about six months and results in you being granted permanent residence. It’s rarely that quick, but the old version took years. In most cases, you will need one of the immigration consultants I mentioned in section 1.9 or a lawyer from 1.10.
Canada has both a low birth rate and an aging population, so it’s particularly open to skilled workers joining the workforce (and tax rolls). We’re therefor looking for people with language skills, work experience, education, and drive.
Demographics drives express entry, but it has been derailed by happenstance, or by a US president doing something surpassingly stupid. Fortunately, demographics will win out in the end: the Canadian population dropped for the first time in 2025, causing muted consternation
There are numerous paths making up part of express entry, notably
•Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
•Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
•Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)
In parallel to Express Entry itself, there are also mechanisms for immigration to specific provinces. These are qualifying mechanisms for express entry, with different options.
•Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) and
•Quebec Skilled Worker Program (QSWP) if you wish to reside in Quebec.
Most use a system called the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). It is a points-based system that we use to assess and score your profile and rank it in the express entry pool. It’s used to assess your:
•skills
•education
•language ability
•work experience
and any other factors.
There is a calculator for your “CRS score” at https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/check-score.html
This is a table of some of the factors, excerpted from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/check-score/crs-criteria.html
Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria
|
Factor name |
Description |
Points with a spouse |
Points without |
|
Age |
Ages 20 to 29 have the highest scores |
100 |
110 |
|
Education |
|
|
|
|
Secondary diploma (high school graduation) |
28 |
30 |
|
One-year degree, diploma or certificate from a university, college, trade or technical school, or other institute |
84 |
90 |
|
Two-year program at a university, college, trade or technical school, or other institute |
91 |
98 |
|
Bachelor's degree OR a three or more year program at a university, college, trade or technical school, or other institute |
112 |
120 |
|
Master's degree, or professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession, eg medicine, |
126 |
135 |
|
Doctoral level university degree (Ph.D.) |
140 |
150 |
|
Languages proficiency |
|
|
|
|
For each of reading, writing, speaking and listening |
32 |
34 |
|
Canadian work experience |
|
|
|
|
None or less than a year |
0 |
0 |
|
1 year |
35 |
40 |
|
2 years |
46 |
53 |
|
3 years |
56 |
64 |
|
4 years |
63 |
72 |
|
5 years or more |
70 |
80 |
|
Skill Transferability factors |
|
|
|
|
With good/strong official languages proficiency and a post-secondary degree |
50 |
50 |
|
With Canadian work experience and a post-secondary degree |
50 |
50 |
|
With good/strong official languages proficiency and foreign work experience |
50 |
50 |
|
With Canadian work experience and foreign work experience |
50 |
50 |
|
Certificate of qualification |
|
|
|
With good/strong official languages proficiency and a certificate of qualification |
50 |
50 |
|
Additional points |
|
|
|
Brother or sister living in Canada (18 years or older, citizen or permanent resident) |
15 |
15 |
|
French language skills |
50 |
50 |
|
Post-secondary education in Canada |
30 |
30 |
|
Provincial or territorial nomination |
600 |
600 |
Each program is limited to a certain number of applicants who are above a particular score, and individuals to be invited are drawn randomly from the applicants who qualify. Draws are every 2-3 weeks. And yes, you get fewer points if you’re married. Whoopie.
Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities (TEER)
The occupations you can apply for include:
|
General |
Medical/allied professionals |
Scientists |
|
accountant |
dentist |
agriculturist (or agronomist) |
|
architect |
dietitian |
animal breeder |
|
computer systems analyst |
medical laboratory technologist |
animal scientist |
|
disaster relief insurance claims adjuster |
nutritionist |
apiculturist |
|
economist |
occupational therapist |
astronomer |
|
engineer |
pharmacist |
biochemist |
|
forester |
physician (teaching or research only) |
biologist (or plant pathologist) |
|
graphic designer |
physiotherapist/physical therapist |
chemist |
|
hotel manager |
psychologist |
dairy scientist |
|
industrial designer |
recreational therapist |
entomologist |
|
interior designer |
registered nurse |
epidemiologist |
|
land surveyor |
veterinarian |
geneticist |
|
landscape architect |
|
geologist |
|
lawyer (or notary in the province of Quebec) |
|
geochemist |
|
librarian |
|
geophysicist |
|
management consultant |
|
horticulturist |
|
mathematician (or statistician and actuary) |
|
meteorologist |
|
range manager or range conservationist |
|
pharmacologist |
|
research assistant (working in a post-secondary institution) |
|
physicist (or oceanographer) |
|
scientific technician or technologist |
|
plant breeder |
|
social worker |
|
poultry scientist |
|
sylviculturist (or forestry specialist) |
|
soil scientist |
|
technical publications writer |
|
zoologist |
|
urban planner (or geographer) |
|
|
|
vocational counsellor |
|
|
These break down into yet another code, a 4-digit “NOC code”, for individual jobs titles.
Resources
•How to Choose the Right NOC Code for Express Entry, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF57PySWlj4 (from moving2canada.com)
It aims at getting people with working experience in particular categories to apply. The categories are those mentioned in the TEER table above.
Your experience needs to be appropriate to the area you’re applying to, although it can be in a former job.
It formerly included points for having a job offer. That was removed, but immigration hopes to restore it, and add points for having required licenses, hopefully in 2026.
The points used in this program are different from the pools above but the minimum is published: you need 67 points in this particular scheme on the web page above.
In this and all the programs below, one of the common roadblocks is employers’ lack of resources to verify foreign educational credentials and work experience, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15562948.2022.2133201
For college and universities, get a transcript, or perhaps have a certified transcript sent directly to the prospective employer. For proof of employment, your offer letter, pay stubs W-2 or 1099 tax forms should suffice. If you’re not sure about that, you can ask the employer for an official lettersto verify your employment.
In any case, collect recommendations on LinkedIn that align with the jobs that you want to emphasize. This is a particularly easy way for an employer to gain confidence about you.
This is the program for anyone who has experience working in Canada.
If you have a year’s Canadian work experience in the last three years, you qualify. You don’t have to been an apprentice, attended college, or graduated university. You do have to fall into one of the skilled jobs mentioned above.
If you are a physician, there is a new category for you, starting in 2026. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/medical-doctors.html
If you did go to a Canadian high school, college or university, you get points for that. Similarly, if you complete a college or university program elsewhere, that also pays some points.
•Immigration pages on the medical category, https://iccimmigration.ca/new-express-entry-category-for-physicians-with-canadian-work-experience-pr-pathway-explained-2026-update/
If you’re a member of one of the skilled trades, there is a program for that, much like the “skilled worker” program. Typically it means you apprenticed in
•construction
•transportation
•manufacturing or other industrial work, or
•natural resources and agriculture.
You need two years experience in your trade in the five years before you apply.
In this program you will need either
•a certificate from a Canadian province saying that your qualifications are valid in Canada, or
•a job offer to work in your trade.
Like the skilled trades program, you get extra points for attending college or university, and a Canadian high school.
A province can also nominate you for one of the three express entry processes. I’ll look at the Ontario program as an example, but all the provinces and the northwest territories have programs, each with a certain quota for cantidates.
This is specifically for people with job offers, replacing the previous scheme where offers were part of the qualifying points scheme for regular express entry.
You can qualify if you fall into one of these three streams
•Foreign Worker stream, if you a skilled foreign worker with a job offer in Ontario, or if you’re a physician.
•International Student stream, for recent graduates with a job offer, and, most importantly,
•In-Demand Skills stream
The latter is for people in a list of occupations described in in-demand skills. These include everything from home care workers to railroad track maintenance workers.
These streams do not require apprenticeship or a degree.
https://www.quebec.ca/en/immigration/permanent/choose-quebec
Quebec has a similar program, “Choosing to immigrate to Québec”. It is oriented toward skilled workers, who have both conversational french and want to live in Quebec
There is a different program, Express Entry for French-speaking skilled workers who wish to work elsewhere in Canada, that is managed as part of express entry.
•A video suggesting that if your work permit is running out, apply for Permanent Residency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQCzY7MvXTg
•Ontario guide on immigrating, https://settlement.org/ (previously mentioned)
•canadavisa.com has a calculator for how many express point you have, https://www.canadavisa.com/canadian-immigration-visas.html
•Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) and the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot (FCIP) are new permanent-resident programs for persons wishing to live in rural ares and for francophones wishing to live outside of Quebec. https://moving2canada.com/features/rcip-fcip-work-permit-pdi-update
•https://www.bordersolutionslaw.com/canadian-immigration/express-entry/
A new category was added, for “Physicians with Canadian Work Experience” https://moving2canada.com/news-and-features/news/immigration/new-express-entry-stream-plus-5000-pnp-spots-for-international-doctors/
Note that is for folks the medical societies have already approved, so it’s sort of limited. If you’ve done this job, you’re eligible for residency.
For US H-1B visa holders, an escape hatch. The US is now charging a $100,000 supplemental fee for applying for an H-1B visa, payable by the employer. Anyone needing in a new visa or extending an old one is charged this prohibitive fee. Canada is proposing to recreate a program from last year, to let those people come to Canada instead. As of April, 2026, we are awaiting a final announcement.
Also being emphasized are
•pilots, aircraft mechanics or inspectors, and
•candidates for the Canadian Forces in roles such as doctors, nurses and pilots.
This is a live document. These links will change. Always refer to the government pages for current rules. And please file an issue at https://codeberg.org/tokugawa-behr/Fleeing-to-Canada/issues if anything is wrong so I’ll know to update it.
This is the most normal, but one of the busisest ways to become a permanent resident, and eventually a citizen. And you can get started on it as soon as you arrive in Canada.