Apply for permanent residence: Express Entry
Before you apply for permanent residence
You can only apply for permanent residence through Express Entry if you’ve received an invitation to apply.
Once you have your invitation to apply
Your Express Entry invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only. You should start filling out the online form right away so that you can get all the information and documents you need before your invitation expires.
If you took a French test from TEF Canada: Test d’évaluation de français between December 11, 2023 and May 6, 2024
If you took a French language test between December 11, 2023 and May 6, 2024 from TEF Canada: Test d’évaluation de français you may need to take action in your Express Entry profile.
CCI Paris Ile-de-France administers the TEF Canada language test for immigration to Canada. As part of ongoing improvements to the way French language is evaluated, CCI temporarily modified the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadien (NCLC) to reflect raw scores.
This change has been reverted back to the Express Entry scoring grid we currently use.
| NCLC Level | Speaking (expression orale) | Listening (compréhension de l’oral) | Reading (compréhension de l’écrit) | Writing (expression écrite) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 393-450 | 316-360 | 263-300 | 393-450 |
| 9 | 371-392 | 298-315 | 248-262 | 371-392 |
| 8 | 349-370 | 280-297 | 233-247 | 349-370 |
| 7 | 310-348 | 249-279 | 207-232 | 310-348 |
| 6 | 271-309 | 217-248 | 181-206 | 271-309 |
| 5 | 226-270 | 181-216 | 151-180 | 226-270 |
| 4 | 181-225 | 145-180 | 121-150 | 181-225 |
If you were impacted by this scoring change, you’ll have received an email message from the CCI, notifying you of this change, and your updated score.
- You’ll need to update your Express Entry profile with this new scoring information.
- If you don’t, and you’re invited to apply, it could cause your application to be refused based on incorrect language scores.
If you’ve been invited to apply but have not yet submitted your application, please update your scores. If you find that you no longer meet the criteria, you should decline your invitation for that round.
If you’ve already applied for permanent residence, the Department may contact you to provide your updated test scores.
Follow these steps to fill out the online form:
- Sign in to your account.
- Click the link to apply for permanent residence under Express Entry.
When filling out the form:
- make sure you submit all of the required documents
- all of your answers must be complete and true
- make sure all the mandatory fields are completed, or you won’t be able to submit your application
- you can save your information on the form and go back as often as you need to
Fees
For your application: $1,525
Include your spouse: $1,525
Include a dependent child: $260
Processing time ?
You may need to give biometrics with your application. This processing time includes the time you need to give your biometrics.
If your work permit will expire soon
If your work permit expires before you submit your application and you didn’t apply for a new one yet, it may cause your score to drop.
This could happen if you got points for a job offer but the work permit associated with the job offer expired before you submitted your application. This could cause you to not be eligible anymore.
If your score has dropped below the minimum cut-off for your round of invitations, you should decline the invitation. If you submit your application anyway, we’ll refuse it.
If you decline, you’ll be put back in the pool. You should update your Express Entry profile to show the change in your work status.
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