04.01.2023
Approximately 300,000 people move to Canada each year – one of the highest immigration rates in the world. It’s, therefore, no wonder that around 21% of this country’s population is made of immigrants. And who could blame them for moving? Canada is a beautiful country that offers high-quality education, universal healthcare, and safe neighborhoods.
And if you’re a skilled worker, there are systems put in place to make the immigration process fair and straightforward. One of the most effective systems is the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, via Express Entry.
This is a visa awarded to skilled and experienced workers selected to become permanent residents of Canada. Since January 2015, the recipients of this visa have been selected through the Express Entry program.
As such, everyone seeking this type of visa needs to create an Express Entry profile that will be used to rank them and assess whether they should be invited to apply for permanent residence. To be eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker visa, you need to:
It is important to note that the 67 points required to make you eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker Program are completely different from the CRS score you’re given when you make an Express Entry profile. As such, you can have the required 67 points and still not get an invitation for permanent residence.
Scoring at least 67 points signals to Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that you meet the requirements they have for their skilled workers. Also, it shows that you can positively contribute to Canada’s economy.
The FSW points you get are calculated from 6 main factors:
You need to be at least 18 years old to apply for the FSW Program. However, as long as you’re between 18 and 35 years of age, you get the maximum amount of points for this category -12 points. For every year over 35, you lose 1 point, meaning that from the age of 47 years, you get 0 points for your age. So the younger you are when you apply for the FSW program, the better.
For your educational qualifications, you can get at most 25 points. You can only get all the points if you have a Doctorate though. On the other hand;
This can give you a maximum of 15 points. To get all these points, you need to have work experience of at least 6 years. If you have work experience spanning between 4 to 5 years, you get 13 points. On the other hand, those with 2 to 3 years of experience get only 11 points. And at the bottom of the pole are those who have only one year of experience (the minimum amount eligible). These candidates get a meager 9 points.
Your language proficiency can give you a maximum of 28 points. And since Canadians speak both English and French, you’ll be awarded more points if you are proficient in both. Proficiency in one official language will gain you a maximum of 24 points and additional proficiency in the second one will give you 4 extra points. To prove your language proficiency, you will have to take any of the below tests:
Whichever test you use though, your score will be converted to Canadian language Benchmarks (CLBs) that range from 1 to 10. Ultimately, these tests are supposed to test your ability to listen, speak, read, and write English or French. So the higher your score, the better.
You can get 10 points under “arranged employment” if you receive a full-time job offer from a Canadian employer and:
Do note that it is also very possible to immigrate to Canada without a job offer, through you will still need the 67 points for immigration to Canada.
You can get up to 10 points for proving that you and your family can easily become socially and financially well-adjusted in Canada. Some situations that can earn you points include:
Now that you understand the factors that affect your FSW score, here are some ways you can improve it:
After scoring 67 FSW points, you need to now concentrate on getting your CSR score as high as possible. This is the only way to improve your chances of being invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada.