Once the Canadian government considers an applicant’s online Express Entry profile to be eligible for the Express Entry program, the applicant will be placed into the Express Entry candidate pool.
In order to be admitted to the Express Entry candidate pool an applicant must meet the program requirements for one of the following three programs:
A candidate is no longer required to register with Employment and Social Development Canada’s Job Bank. However, they are strongly encouraged to submit a profile under the Job Bank as well, especially if:
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- They do not have a job offer yet,
- They do not have a nomination for permanent residence by a provincial or territorial government
Once admitted to the pool:
- Applicants will receive a personal reference code to use to register for the Canadian Government’s job bank, if necessary.
- Applicants will receive a point score based on the information that they provided in their online profile. Applicants are awarded points using the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS is used to determine the likelihood that an applicant will prosper in Canada.
Important Note: Being accepted into the candidate pool DOES NOT necessarily mean that you will receive an invitation to apply for permanent residence.
Applicants whose score is amongst the highest in the pool will be invited to apply for permanent residence. Only those in the pool who have received an invitation to apply will be allowed to apply for permanent residence.
The total number of applicants invited to apply from the pool will depend on:
- The government’s capacity to process applications, and
- Annual target levels for immigration to Canada.
Further, applicants will be chosen from the pool according to:
- The cut-off scores being used in a periodic draw, using the Comprehensive Ranking System, and,
- The scores of candidates under skilled immigration programs under the Express Entry system.
Applicants who do not receive an invitation to apply after being in the pool for a year will be removed from the pool and have their Express Entry profile deleted. These applicants will then have to create a new online Express Entry profile if they wish to submit a new skilled immigration application.
Applicants in the pool can improve their score and increase their chances of being invited to apply for permanent residence by:
- Obtaining a job offer
- Obtaining a nomination for permanent residence by a provincial government
- Improving their language test scores
- Gaining more education
- Gaining more work experience
Note: Adding a spouse or common-law partner to an application can increase or decrease the applicant’s score based on the spouse’s or partner’s:
- Language skills
- Education
- Chances of becoming successfully established in Canada.
Applicants in the pool are responsible for making sure that the information on their online profile is accurate at all times. All candidates must update their Express Entry profile if:
- The nature of their work experience changes
- They receive new language test results
- They obtain a new educational diploma
- There is a change to their family composition, such as:
- Birth
- Death
- Marriage
- Divorce
- A child in the family is no longer a dependent
Applicants who do not update their profiles run the risk of having their outdated information used in a permanent residence application. This use of outdated information in a permanent residence application could constitute misrepresentation. Misrepresentation always results in the refusal of an application. Further, other consequences for misrepresentation may include:
- The applicant being found inadmissible to Canada
- The applicant being barred from entering Canada for five years.
