Submit an Express Entry profile: Online form

Fill out the online form

If you want to come to Canada as a skilled immigrant, your first step is to submit your profile to the Express Entry pool.

If you’re eligible, we will:

• place you in a pool with others who are also eligible
• give you a score and rank you using several factors
• invite you to apply to be a permanent resident of Canada (if you’re one of the top candidates)

You can only apply online if we send you an invitation to apply.

Completing an online Express Entry profile or entering the pool doesn’t guarantee that we’ll invite you to apply for permanent residence.

Eligibility questions

Answer a few questions to see if you're eligible for Express Entry. It'll take you about 15 minutes.

If you’re married or have a common-law partner, one of you must be the main or principal applicant. This person will submit a profile and list the spouse or partner in it.

Your principal applicant should be the one of you most likely to:

• meet the eligibility requirements
• earn the most points in the selection factors (if applying under the Federal Skilled Workers Program)
• earn the most points in Express Entry’s Comprehensive Ranking System

This tool gives you a number at the end (a personal reference code). The code looks like: JM1234567890. Use this number to move your information from the tool to your Express Entry profile.

Find out if you’re eligible

Create your Express Entry profile

If you’re eligible, the tool will send you to your online account to fill out an Express Entry profile.

1. Follow the instructions to create an account (if you don’t already have one).
2. Enter your personal reference code when it prompts you to (only if you have one).
3. Enter your personal details.

• Create or sign in to your account

To complete your profile, you’ll need:

• information from certain documents (for example, language test results)
• your National Occupational Classification (NOC) job title and code

You may exit the profile at any time. Your information will be saved in your account.

You have 60 days to complete and submit your Express Entry profile. Otherwise, you’ll have to start again.

Once you’ve filled out your profile, you can submit it online. We’ll figure out which immigration program you’re eligible for under Express Entry.

What to do while you’re in the pool

While you wait in the pool, get ready to accept an invitation to apply. If we invite you to apply, you’ll have 60 days to submit a complete application.

Get your documents ready

Having your documents ready will make it easier to apply within the 60 days.

Language tests

Check that your language test results are valid. They are valid for 2 years after the date of the test result. They must also be valid on the date you apply for permanent residence.

If your results expire before then, you should:

• be tested again or
• apply before your test results expire (if possible) or
• decline the invitation and go back into the pool to be considered in the future

If you apply for permanent residence with language test results that have expired, we'll reject your application.

Police certificates

You’ll need to get police certificates for you and any of your family members who are 18 years old or older.

In some countries, it can take a long time to get police certificates. Ask for them now that you’re in the pool, so you can submit them before your 60 days are up.

Find a job with Job Match

You can start your job search by creating a Job Match account with Job Bank. Job Bank is a database that can help match you with employers looking for workers with your skills.

To do this, you’ll need the Job Seeker validation code you received when you submitted your profile. Once you come to Canada, you can keep using Job Bank to find a job.

• Sign up with Job Bank

Try to improve your score

While you’re in the pool, you can improve your score and increase your chances of being invited to apply by:

• getting a valid job offer by:
  • using Job Bank
  • promoting yourself to employers in Canada using private-sector job boards
• contacting provinces and territories to consider you for a Provincial Nominee Program
• improving your language score
• improving your education
• gaining more relevant work experience

Keep your profile up-to-date

You must make sure that the information in your profile stays true and accurate at all times. You must update your profile if your situation changes, for example if you:

• start a new career
• gain or lose a job offer
• get a new language test
• get married or divorced
• have or adopt a new child

If we find that you gave us false information or left out important details, we can:

• refuse your application
• find you inadmissible
• bar you for 5 years from applying to come to Canada for any reason

Rounds of invitations

We rank candidates in the pool using a points-based system called the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). We select the highest-ranking candidates from the pool and invite them to apply for permanent residence.

Each invitation round has a set of instructions that are:

• posted online at the time of the invitation round
• used by the Express Entry system to invite candidates from the pool

The instructions include:

• the date and time of the invitation round
• the number of candidates that will get an invitation to apply
• which immigration program(s) are included in the round (some invitation rounds may only invite candidates for 1 program, for example only from Federal Skilled Trades)

Respond to your invitation to apply

If we invite you to apply for permanent residence, you'll get a message in your account telling you:

• which program you've been invited to apply for
• what to do next

You'll need to show proof of the information you gave us in your Express Entry profile. We’ll assess whether the information you submit in your application is different from what was in your profile.

If we find that you gave us false information or left out important details, we could:

• refuse your application
• find you inadmissible
• bar you for 5 years from applying to come to Canada for any reason

Apply for permanent residence.

Program requirements

You can check the criteria for the program you've been invited to apply under to make sure you're still eligible.

By understanding your program requirements, you'll be more prepared to apply. It could also help you decide whether to accept an invitation to apply.

Changes to your personal situation

If your situation (or that of your spouse or partner) changes, you should re-calculate your score before applying online for permanent residence.

If your recalculated score is less than the lowest score in your round of invitations, you should decline the invitation. If you decide to apply anyway, we may:

• refuse your application
• not refund your application fee

Some examples of changes that could lower your score:

• you no longer have a valid job offer
• you no longer have a provincial nomination
• your language test scores:
  • have expired
  • are lower after you were retested

Declining an invitation to apply

If you decline an invitation, you'll be put back into the Express Entry pool of candidates. You'll be considered in future rounds of invitations, if you’re still eligible.

The cut-off score varies from round to round. If your score isn’t high enough, you might not be invited to apply again. In some cases, you may have to take steps to be invited to apply again. For example, you may need to:

• improve your score
• update your Express Entry profile

There is no guarantee that you'll be invited to apply again. However, if you choose to re-enter the pool, declining an invitation won't affect whether or not you’re invited to apply later.

If you don't decline an invitation and you don't apply within 60 days, the invitation will expire and your profile will be removed from the pool. To be considered in future rounds of invitations you'll have to:

• fill out and submit a new Express Entry profile
• meet the eligibility
• be accepted into the pool again

What to do if you’re not invited to apply

If you’re not invited to apply within 12 months of submitting your Express Entry profile, it will automatically expire. You can see this date in your account.

When your profile expires, it will be removed from the system. You will get a message in your account.

You can still create a new profile. If your profile is about to expire, you can print out screen shots of your profile to make it easier to re-enter your data.

Don’t create a new profile until your existing profile expires. If you do, you’ll need to withdraw your existing profile first.

To withdraw your profile:

1. Sign in to your account
2. Go to “View the applications you submitted” on the main page
3. Click the “Withdraw profile” link
4. Click the “Continue” button below the “Warning!” text under the heading “What would you like to do today?”

If you don’t submit a new profile, you can’t mention Express Entry in your profiles on any job boards.

If you submit a new profile, you’ll get a new:

• Express Entry profile number
• Job Seeker validation code for Job Bank

SOURCE: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/submit-profile.html