- Qualification
- At least one year of continuous full-time skilled work experience (or 1,560 hours part-time) within the last 10 years, in a single occupation in TEER category 0, 1, 2 or 3; secondary education; and, for education obtained abroad, an educational credential assessment.
- Processing time
- Not published as a single figure — IRCC publishes a processing-time tool per application type instead
- Deadline to apply after an invitation
- 60 days
- Application, including the right of permanent residence fee
- CAD1,590.00
- Application, without the right of permanent residence fee
- CAD990.00
- Include your spouse or partner, including the right of permanent residence fee
- CAD1,590.00
Scored, not checked off. We explain the factors and link the official calculator — we never produce a score, because a score reads as a prediction.
The procedure, step by step7 steps · 4 possible outcomes
- Find the National Occupational Classification code for your job and confirm it sits in TEER category 0, 1, 2 or 3. Your experience must match the lead statement and most of the main duties of that code, and it must be paid — unpaid internships and volunteering do not count.The code you name as your primary occupation is not necessarily your most recent job. IRCC asks for the one that most closely aligns with your experience.
- Take an approved English or French language test and reach at least Canadian Language Benchmark 7 in all four abilities. Below CLB 7 in any single ability, this program is closed regardless of every other factor.
- If you studied outside Canada, obtain an educational credential assessment before you create your profile. It is required to be eligible as the principal applicant, and it is what turns foreign study into points.
- Score yourself against the 100-point selection factors — language, education, experience, age, arranged employment and adaptability. Below 67 points you do not qualify and cannot enter the pool.
- Submit your profile and wait to be ranked. IRCC scores the pool with the Comprehensive Ranking System and invites the highest-ranked candidates in each round. We do not calculate or estimate that score here: use IRCC's own calculator, and read the published cut-off of recent rounds to see where the bar has been sitting.As of 25 March 2025 a job offer no longer earns Comprehensive Ranking System points, for candidates already in the pool as well as new ones. It can still matter for eligibility on other routes, so it stays worth declaring — but anyone counting on the old 50 or 200 points is working from a superseded page.
- Some rounds invite only candidates who fall inside a category the Minister has established. Each category is defined by a closed list of occupations, or by French-language ability, and the lists are revised — being broadly in a sector named by a category is not the same as appearing on its list. Check whether your own occupation is on it rather than inferring from the category's name.
- If you are invited, you have 60 days to submit the application with documentary evidence for every claim in your profile. Show proof of funds unless you are already authorised to work in Canada and hold a valid job offer.You must also plan to live outside Quebec, which selects its own skilled workers. Experience gained while living in Quebec still counts, but IRCC states that officers will check evidence that you do not intend to settle there.
Possible outcomes
- Permanent residence: live and work anywhere in Canada outside Quebec, with a route to citizenship if you later meet its conditions.
- No invitation, where your rank stays below the cut-off of the rounds held while your profile is in the pool.
- Expiry: a profile that receives no invitation leaves the pool, and an invitation not acted on within 60 days lapses.
- Refusal after invitation, where the evidence does not support the claims made in the profile, or you are inadmissible.
- Qualification
- Set by each province or territory, not federally. Streams commonly target skilled workers, semi-skilled workers, graduates or business applicants, and many require a job offer in that province.
- Processing time
- Two stages, and only the federal one is published centrally: the nomination is decided on the province's own timeline, IRCC's stage appears in its processing-time tool
- Federal application, including the right of permanent residence fee
- CAD1,590.00
- Federal application, without the right of permanent residence fee
- CAD990.00
- Include a dependent child
- CAD270.00 per child
The procedure, step by step5 steps · 3 possible outcomes
- Choose the province or territory you actually intend to live in and read its streams. Requirements, caps and open windows differ in every one of them, and a nomination binds you to settling there.
- Establish which of the two processes your stream uses. The province or territory tells you: an Express Entry stream requires you to also qualify for one of the three federal programs, while a non-Express Entry stream does not and is decided on paper.
- Apply to the province or territory for the nomination. On the Express Entry route you can also create a federal profile first and signal the provinces you are interested in, then apply when one sends you a notification of interest.
- If you are nominated through an Express Entry stream, add the nomination to your profile. IRCC awards 600 additional points, which in practice puts you above the cut-off of the rounds that include nominees.
- Apply to IRCC for permanent residence — online after an invitation on the Express Entry route, or directly on the non-Express Entry route.IRCC warns that processing times may increase when applications exceed the spaces set by the Immigration Levels Plan.
Possible outcomes
- A nomination, which is not itself permanent residence: it is the province's endorsement of your application to IRCC.
- Permanent residence, if IRCC then approves the application — with a commitment to settle in the nominating province or territory.
- Refusal at either stage, independently: a nomination does not bind IRCC, and federal eligibility does not oblige a province to nominate.
- Qualification
- A job offer from an employer in Canada who either has been referred to the stream by a designated referral partner (Category A) or is hiring into an occupation on the global talent occupations list (Category B).
- Labour market impact assessment
- 10 business days, met 80% of the time
- Work permit decision
- 2 weeks, met 80% of the time, for eligible and complete applications filed online from abroad
- Labour market impact assessment
- CAD1,000.00 per position, paid by the employer — it may not be charged to or recovered from the worker
- Work permit
- CAD155.00 per person
- Biometrics
- CAD85.00 per person, CAD170.00 maximum per family applying together
The procedure, step by step5 steps · 4 possible outcomes
- Confirm with the employer which category applies. Category A needs a referral from one of the stream's designated referral partners; Category B needs the position to appear on the global talent occupations list, and no referral. Find your own line on that list rather than assuming the category covers your field.Most lines on the list carry no figure and are set at the prevailing wage for the occupation and location. A minority carry a published annual and hourly floor, and where one applies the employer must offer at least the hourly rate.
- The employer draws up a labour market benefits plan with the department, committing to lasting benefits for workers already in Canada, and pays the assessment fee. Neither the fee nor any recruitment cost may be charged to you or recovered from you — the department states that doing so results in a negative decision.
- The employer submits the labour market impact assessment application online. The published service standard is 10 business days, met 80% of the time.In British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia the employer must first hold a provincial employer registration certificate, and its own processing time comes before this one.
- Once the assessment is positive, the employer sends you the decision letter and the signed employment contract, and you apply to IRCC for the work permit with both. The positive assessment is valid for up to six months.
- Apply online from outside Canada to qualify for the two-week service standard. Applying on paper, applying from inside Canada, or filing an incomplete application removes you from it — as does applying for an open permit, which is not eligible.IRCC states it aims to process eligible and complete applications within two weeks, met 80% of the time. Accompanying family members included in the application benefit from the same faster handling.
Possible outcomes
- An employer-specific work permit for the duration approved, tied to the employer, location and occupation printed on it.
- Time in Canada that can later support a permanent application, since the permanent routes score Canadian work experience — the permit itself grants no permanent status.
- A negative labour market impact assessment, which stops the route before you apply at all, including where the employer has charged you a cost it may not charge.
- Refusal of the permit by IRCC even on a positive assessment, where you do not meet the general requirements for work permit applicants.
