April 20, 2021
3 Common Questions about Express Entry
by Josh Schachnow
View PostLearn more about Visto and our free immigration portal
Visto is a free platform that helps skilled workers and international students move to Canada as quickly as possible. We do this by helping you uncover the most popular applications and programs, then with preparing your applications and making the move to Canada too.
While Visto is not a law firm, we’re built by immigration lawyers in Canada and others who know the difficulty and vulnerability that comes with trying to navigate the immigration space. The Canadian immigration system can be hard to understand, online forums and other groups can be unreliable as there are few professionals providing advice, and there are lots of poor or expensive service providers and scammers.
Because of this, we wanted to create a platform where you can manage the entire process in a single, reliable place!
If you’re interested in coming to Canada, start by signing up for our free immigration portal here. You’ll instantly get access to the Visto Portal that will get you started on the immigration process, and also give you the opportunity to join our community for even more benefits.
Most of the content in the Visto Portal is completely free, and if you need even more help, we have paid options like:
Express Entry is a Canadian immigration program for skilled workers. An Express Entry approval means you will have permanent residency in Canada, allowing you to live in any city, work for any company or even go back to school. You can include your immediate family in your application (spouse and/or kids) and you will all have access to Canadian healthcare and education!
Permanent residency lasts for 5 years and can be renewed, and also gives you the opportunity to apply for citizenship down the road as well.
Visto is not a law firm or consultancy. Instead, we are a tech company and the Visto Portal is completely free to use. We partner with reliable Canadian lawyers and other service providers that offer services to help with your settlement in Canada. These are carefully selected partners and completely optional to you, and they pay us a fee if you choose to use their services.
Along your immigration journey, you may incur costs for things like writing a language exam, translating documents, paying the government filing fees and others, but these fees are not charged by Visto.
To join Visto and start your immigration journey, head here!
If you want to get started with Visto, we definitely recommend signing up for the portal and/or joining our private Facebook group here!
We understand there are a lot of confusing terms within Canadian immigration and Express Entry specifically. Here are the major terms as part of our Express Entry FAQ:
EE: short for Express Entry. This is the program we focus on that Canada implemented in 2015 to target skilled workers. It grants permanent residency to eligible skilled workers in as little as 4-6 months!
PR: short for permanent resident, this is someone who has legally immigrated to Canada but is not yet a Canadian citizen. PR’s can work for any company, live in any city, or go to school in Canada. They can also access our healthcare system.
CRS score: short for Comprehensive Ranking System score, this is the score that will be used to rank your Express Entry profile. If it is high enough, you may have a good chance to be invited to apply.
ECA: short for Educational Credential Assessment, this is a report done by an authorized company that will determine what your foreign degree is equivalent to in Canada. It is required if you have a foreign degree and want it calculated as part of your CRS score.
IELTS: the IELTS exam is an English exam that is one of four exams recognized by Immigration Canada for Express Entry. It is typically the most popular choice among applicants and a minimum score is required.
PNP: short for Provincial Nominee Program, these are programs run by specific provinces in Canada that allow them to nominate certain Express Entry candidates that want to live in their province. There are many PNP streams with many different requirements, so we suggest doing your research if interested in this option.
LMIA: short for Labour Market Impact Assessment, this is what a Canadian employer will need to apply for if they want to hire a foreign worker or if you want to claim a Canadian job offer in your Express Entry profile (in most cases – there are some scenarios where the employer may be exempt from needing one).
IRCC/CIC: these are short forms for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the government authority over immigration in Canada.
NOC: short for National Occupational Classification, it is a list of codes that describe all work done in Canada. This means that every job or title will fit under an NOC code – or sometimes more than one – and will help categorize your eligibility and work experience for the purposes of your application.