Some early Express Entry candidates have already created their profiles for Express Entry – and with the first two draws already out the bag, those lucky enough to be picked are already starting to reap the rewards by applying for Canadian permanent residence.
As long as you’re eligible for one of the Canadian federal economic immigration programs, you too can submit your Express Entry profile into the pool. Once submitted, you’ll be ranked using the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), which assesses various elements such as your core human capital factors, skill transferability factors, and whether you’ve already received a Provincial Nomination or job offer.
As you may be aware, only the highest-ranked individuals are invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence. Therefore, it is your responsibility to keep your Express Entry profile up-to-date and work on improving your overall score to give yourself the best chance of success.
Below, we’re going to give you some tips on the best ways of improving your CRS score.
Add an extra 600 CRS pointsÂ
The easiest way to improve your CRS score, and gain an extra 600 points, is to either acquire a provincial nomination or a qualifying Canadian job offer. This will give you an instant advantage and will in all likelihood mean you will receive a nomination at the next Express Entry pool draw.
Gain a qualifying job offer
If you’re outside Canada, you may find the task of gaining an offer of employment to be particularly challenging, but there are plenty of tools and resources which can help you, they include the following;
- The CanadaVisa Resume Builder: This free tool can help you build up a suitable CV for contacting potential employers.
- The CanadaVisa Job Search tool: This is a free tool that allows candidates outside of Canada to research and find vacancies throughout Canada, and even make contact with potential employers.
- Other CanadaVisa career coaching tools and resources: Use these to help you establish valuable and worthwhile connections with Canadian employers.
Acquire a provincial nomination
A certain portion of Provincial Nomination candidates will be suitable for “enhanced nominations” via Express Entry – this helps to ensure both local and provincial labour market needs in Canada are met.
Depending on which province you choose to settle in, you may be eligible to complete your online profile and enter the Express Entry pool before receiving your nomination for a Provincial Program, or perhaps after that fact.
Bear in mind that PNPs are modified and newly introduced as part of a continual process, and we highly recommend that you keep yourself up-to-date with each province and only apply for the PNPs you are eligible for. Saying that, you CAN apply for multiple PNPs in order to increase your chances.
Improve your core human capital factors
Let’s look at the Comprehensive Ranking System currently in place; you can be awarded anything up to 600 points for your core human capital factors, which focus on elements such as your qualifications, age, language proficiency, and relevant work experience.
Taking extra steps to improve on these factors mean you could be awarded additional points to add to your overall CRS score. These steps could include:
- Gaining new qualifications (an educational degree, diploma or certificate)
- Your spouse or common-law partner gaining new qualifications
- Improve on your language proficiency, before sitting (or re-sitting) standardized language tests which are recognized by the Canadian government
- Your spouse or common-law partner improving on their language proficiency before sitting (or re-sitting) standardized language tests which are recognized by the Canadian government
- Gaining more work experience
- Your spouse or common-law partner gaining more work experience
Are You Interested in the Express Entry Program?
The most important aspect of the Express Entry program is to get an invitation to apply for permanent residence. Our job is to make you STAND OUT from the crowd. We will assess your case, highlight the best aspects of your application, and make sure that the government notices you!
Call us today for an assessment to see if you are eligible for Express Entry to Canada, or fill out our online assessment form.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
