Express Entry

Make sure that you have your birth certificates (dependent children), marriage certificates (if applicable) and valid passports ready in advance.

Birth Certificates: Prior to Express Entry, one of the most troublesome of the civil status documents was the birth certificate. However, with IRCC not requiring these for principal applicants and spouses, they have taken on a lesser portion of the stress client’s face. If you have dependent children, you will need them. If you are in Canada and have dependent children, you likely do have your birth certificates on hand. However, make sure you have them if dependent children are included with your application. This advice would apply equally to marriage certificates as well.

Passports: The problem with passports is that they have an expiry date. We have had a number of occasions where we were preparing to file a PR application for a client when we realized that the passport was expiring in just a few months. Make sure your passport is valid for at least one year. If it is not, we recommend that you take steps immediately to have it extended as IRCC requires a passport to be valid for at least 6 months at the time of visa issuance. We know that IRCC is going to be super strict when it comes to supporting documentation, so although we have been able to submit copies of expired passports in the past with an accompanying statement indicating that an application had been filed for an extension or a new one, I would strongly discourage doing this now, as CIC will have no problem returning a person to the EE pool if a complete eAPR has not been filed within the 90 day window.

Make sure that all reference letters meet the minimum expectations of the various PR programs.

However, the key factor to ensuring a proper identification of your position within the NOC, is to demonstrate that you performed the actions set out in the “lead statement” for the occupation as well as a substantial number of the “main duties” of the occupation as set out in the occupational description of the NOC. If the duties do not match, the PR application may be refused.

“Tip: Ensure the reference letter is printed on company letterhead. Remember this needs to be an official document and anything less (such as an e-mail confirmation of employment) is just not going to cut it.”

1. Your full name. Ensure that the name on the reference letter matches with the name on your passport. Sometimes employers will refer to you by your common or nickname. Eliminate confusion wherever possible and go with the name in your passport

2. Company’s contact information. This should include the following mandatory information with a few suggestions of my own:

• full address (don’t forget postal/zip code, if applicable)
• telephone number
• e-mail address
• website address (our suggestion)
• stamped with the company’s official seal, if applicable (our suggestion)

3. Signature of your immediate supervisor or personnel officer. People come and go from a business, so if your immediate supervisor no longer works there, have someone sign the letter who knew you and is in a position of authority within the company.

4. Business Card of the person signing the letter. Don’t forget to ensure this is included with the reference letter when you receive it. Obviously you will only need to upload a digital copy of it to the Express Entry portal. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking it is no longer required in our new virtual Express Entry world.

5. Confirm all positions held within the company. In addition to confirming your various titles, the letter will need to include the following details for each position:

• job title + corresponding NOC (our suggestion);
• detailed list of duties/responsibilities (see further information below);
• job status (if current job);
• dates you worked for the company;
• number of hours per week;
• annual salary and
• benefits (if applicable).

You will be asked many questions when submitting your EE profile into the pool. However, these questions focus specifically on the various human capital factors driving the Comprehensive Ranking System. There are some sections that are not covered until after your ITA has been extended to you. One of the two areas that give people the most grief are the sections that relate to address history and travel history. You will be expected to document where you have lived for the past 10 years and also set forth your travel history for this period of time. We highly recommend that you start working on this early on in the process so that you are not left scrambling for old addresses you have lived at when the 90 day clock is ticking on filing your eAPR.

If you are currently in a situation where you really need to get your application filed quickly, you may want to consider hiring an authorized representative to help you.

Clients will not be able to manage to successfully apply for the immigration procedure without passing one of the official language tests like IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or CELPIP. You would probably not manage to sail past the security wizard to begin concluding your profile rightly. It is crucial to have your language test scores in your hand while beginning your first screening procedure.If you do not have this essential document with you, it’s fruitless wasting your time in answering the following questions.

It is seen that the candidate having an employment offer in his hand, receives an offer of Invitation to Apply (ITA) for the Permanent Residence in PR form Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). But, if you do not have the offer, it does not mean that you can’t apply under Canada Express Entry. In respect to job offers supported by an LMIA gather only 600 points out of 1200 within CRS, the CIC has pointed out they always select the individuals with high human capital and no LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) in the starting phase.

To highlight their profile on the CRS in the starting phase, some applicants put forward a profile that is entirely ‘fake’. Candidates need to strictly avoid this, as it will delay the approval process.

Many times, it is seen that you fail to furnish all the information on the sections of Express Entry profile; your status for that particular section will read “In Progress”, but if your profile is duly filled with all information, it will say “Complete”. But this wizard can not be trusted fully, as in some cases, the system flashes the message “Complete” even if that particular section needs additional information to be furnished by the candidate.

To avoid submitting an incomplete profile, it is recommended to proofread your profile from a trusted source. By following this, one can easily make sure the profile is duly filled, as in the form there are several fields having drop down menus and there is a high probability that applicant can skip the selection in a hurry to fill the form.