There are no eligible occupation lists for any of the programs. Under previous versions of the Federal Skilled Worker Class, there were lists of eligible occupations deemed in demand by the government of Canada. Under the most recent version of the Canadian Experience Class, there was a list of ineligible occupations. These lists are no more. It must be noted, however, that in order to be eligible for any of the programs under Express Entry, the candidate needs to have work experience in an occupation that has a National Occupation Classification (NOC) code of skill type 0, A or B.

All provinces and territories, except for Quebec, Alberta and Nunavut, currently use Express Entry. Provinces and territories are able to nominate a certain number of candidates through the Express Entry system to meet their local and provincial labor market needs. These are known as “enhanced” nominations. If an applicant gets an enhanced nomination from a province or territory, he or she is then given 600 additional points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) and will receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence at a subsequent draw from the pool. All candidates must meet the eligibility criteria of one of the Federal Economic immigration programs in order to enter and be selected from the Express Entry pool. Just as they manage their own Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), provinces and territories set the criteria they use to nominate Express Entry candidates. Depending on the province/territory, Express Entry candidates may either enter the pool first and then be nominated by a province or territory, or be nominated by a province or territory and then complete an online Express Entry profile. Provinces and territories are also able to make nominations under their regular (“base”) PNPs outside the Express Entry system.

Yes, there is a connection between the PNPs and Express Entry. Once a candidate updates his or her Express Entry profile to show that he or she has an enhanced provincial nomination certificate, he or she will be given enough additional points (600) to be invited to apply at a subsequent draw of candidates from the pool.

Candidates must be in the pool before applying to a province or territory for an enhanced provincial nomination certificate or submitting an Expression of Interest to a province or territory under one of the enhanced PNP streams.

Not necessarily, though the fact that Canadian employers play a greater role in Canadian immigration under Express Entry than they did previously means that, for many candidates, obtaining a valid job offer from a Canadian employer significantly increases their chances of being invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence

From the moment a candidate is issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian permanent residence, he or she has 60 days to submit a complete electronic application with all supporting documents. Because of this limited time, candidates are encouraged to begin collecting these documents and ensuring they are in good order before an ITA is issued. If a candidate misses the 60-day deadline, the ITA that was issued to him or her is no longer valid and he or she will have to re-enter the Express Entry pool. If the information provided by the potential candidate turns out to be false, this is known as misrepresentation and, depending on the nature and severity of the false claim, carries penalties. A potential candidate who has been found to have provided false information going into the Express Entry pool can be banned from re-entering the pool for five years.

Candidates should bear in mind that the economic immigration programs that have been in place in recent years remain in place under the Express Entry selection system. Once an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence has been issued to a candidate, he or she must submit a range of supporting document with his or her application, as was the case previously. These documents include those pertaining to civil status such as marriage certificates (if applicable), birth certificates, language test results, an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA; if applicable), work reference letters, security background checks, and other documents

Yes, all candidates need to take a language test in order to determine their language abilities. There are a set number of points available for language ability for each of the economic immigration programs that come under Express Entry, and ability must be proven by candidates taking a standardized language test approved by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly known as CIC). The most popular are IELTS or CELPIP for English and TEF or TCF Canada for French. As part of their Express Entry profile, candidates must submit valid language test results obtained in the past two years. Once a candidate enters the Express Entry pool, he or she can earn extra points and increase his or her rank by taking another language test and obtaining better results. As of June 6, 2017, additional points are also available to candidates who prove French language ability in addition to English language ability

Candidates know their points total (or score), but do not know their rank within the pool. They do, however, know the minimum score that was required for the most recent draw from the Express Entry pool. Therefore, they have a target that they can aim to meet and surpass in order to increase their chances of being invited to apply for permanent residence.

Each profile remains in the Express Entry pool for a period of 6 months or until an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence is issued, whichever comes first. If after 6 months a candidate wishes to remain in the pool, he or she may create a fresh profile.

Candidates who receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence from a Canadian province or territory should have the intention to reside in that particular province or territory. The Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) are set up to address local and regional labor market needs, and so it follows that candidates invited to apply through a PNP are deemed likely to succeed in that particular province or territory.

Yes, a portion of the PNPs, known as the “enhanced” portion, are managed inside Express Entry, with the remainder operating external to Express Entry.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada aims to process the majority of complete applications received within six months from the date of submission.

If after 12 months a candidate has not received an Invitation To Apply (ITA) for permanent residence from the Canadian Federal Government, a Canadian Province, or a Canadian employer, but wishes to remain in the Express Entry pool, he or she can create a new Express Entry profile. If he or she is still eligible for one of the economic immigration programs, he or she will re-enter the Express Entry pool.

Yes. It is advisable to prepare two separate Express Entry profiles when both husband and wife are well educated and have good IELTS scores. If  both profiles get Invitations to Apply, then it is advisable to use the best profile of the two to apply.