The Canadian Federal government introduced the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) for foreign nationals who work temporarily in Canada to receive permanent residency. To apply for CEC, you need to have worked one year full-time in Canada. If your work experience is not one year full-time, three years of part-time work experience will suffice.
The Canadian Experience Class permits you to move to the country permanently. You have the right to work and live in Canada like its citizens, except you can not have a Canadian passport.
After living in Canada for two years under the CEC, you will become eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship. Citizenship gives you a Canadian passport, medical support, and the education ability of your children.
What are the advantages of the Canadian Experience Class?
The application process for the Canadian Experience Class is quick as there are not a lot of required supporting documents. The process might get done in 3-4 months.
You don’t have to provide financial independence proof under CEC, but FSTP and FSWP have to do it.
Having one year of work experience in Canada gives you a high point in the CRS calculator. So you don’t have to worry about ranking or working on other factors to increase your position.
Are you eligible for the Canadian Experience Class?
Not everyone can apply for the Canadian Experience Class. You have to meet the eligibility standards to begin the application process.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is the official website of the Canadian Federal government. It has a free tool that helps you know whether you are eligible for the Canadian Experience Class or not. Software engineers are eligible to apply through CEC to work and live in Canada.
How to complete the IRCC free eligibility tool?
You have to pick the Canadian province you want to live in.
Immigration tip; do research about different provinces and know the cost of living, climate, local laws, and the standard of living. You might not be able to live in the province you have chosen.
If you don’t know the name of the province, pick the one that you’re most interested in.
The next step is the language requirements. You need to choose the language test you have taken.
Remember that the tests for English are:
IELTS
Listening, 40 questions, 30 m (plus 10m transfer time)
Reading, 40 questions, 60m
Writing, two tasks, 60m
Speaking, three parts, 11–14m
CELPIP
Reading: reading passages and answering questions 60m.
Speaking: answering on-screen questions, 15-20m.
Writing: answering questions with written answers, 60m.
Listening: listening to an audio file and answering questions, 55m.
The test for French is;
TEC
Reading (60m) – 50 questions – 300 points
Listening (40m) – 60 questions – 360 points
Written (60m) – 2 topics – 450 points
Speaking (15m per candidate) – 2 topics – 450 points
TCF
Listening: Collective test: 39 multiple-choice questions (4 answer choices, one correct answer)
Written: Collective test: 39 multiple-choice questions (only one correct answer possible)
Written: Collective test: 3 exercises
Oral: Individual face-to-face test with an examiner: 3 exercises
After choosing the language test, you need to insert the exact date you took the test. Then put the score for every four skills. The tools ask you if you have another language test and the score. If you have the second language test, put it in, and it will increase your chance in the process. Remember that you need to put the detailed score for the second language as well.
In the next section, you need to provide how many years of working experience you’ve had in Canada. The least is one year. The type of work experience you have comes in what category? Complete the below field as well;
- Professional occupation
- technical occupation and skilled trades
- Managerial occupations
Finally, the tool gives you a personal reference code. You use it with the given instructions to apply for the Canadian Experience Class.
Pharmacists who want to immigrate to Canada can read this article.
Education requirement
You don’t have to provide education requirements for the Canadian Experience Class. But you can increase your position in the express entry pool through education inside or outside Canada.
Be admissible
You must be able to enter Canada and haven’t committed any illegal crime or activity. You must be able to provide a clean record certificate to the immigration authorities.
Living in the Quebec province
Remember that the Canadian Experience Class doesn’t work for the Quebec province. You must settle somewhere else.
The Quebec province uses the Quebec Skilled Worker Program to attract skilled workers.
Who is not eligible for the Canadian Experience Class?
CEC applicants are not eligible if;
- Being a refugee claimant
- working without formal authorization
- required work experience gained without temporary resident status in Canada
Canadian Experience Class application process
The application process for the Canadian Experience Class is as follows;
Step 1. Determine if you are eligible or not
The CEC and express entry program holds eligibility principles that you need to fulfill. Before you begin the application process, determine if you are eligible or not. The eligibility principles are explained in the above part. Bear in mind that you can work on your situation to increase the possibility of receiving CEC.
Step 2. Get into Canada and work
As explained above, you need to have one year of full-time experience and three years of part-time work experience to be eligible for CEC. So you must have entered Canada under another type of visa and worked. You could have visited Canada through a student visa and got a job offer after education. Canada’s open work permit and temporary foreign worker program are the other two ways you can enter Canada and work inside the country.
Step 3. Gather the requirements
You need to provide a few supporting documents for the Canadian Experience Class. The list of general requirements is as follows;
Passport
Your passport must hold enough validity as the process might take a bit longer after the COVID-19 pandemic. The processing time has prolonged a bit, and you might have to wait longer. So ensure your passport is valid long enough. Remember that It can not be older than ten years either.
Language proficiency test result
A certificate that proves your language fluency is required; English or French.
Education certificate
If you need to provide an education certificate in your case, provide the translated certificates.
Job offer
Unlike the other subcategories of the express entry program, FSWP, FSTP, and PNP, the Canadian Experience Class doesn’t require a job offer. But having one boosts your score in the CRS point system. You are more likely to get invited to apply for permanent residency.
As explained above in detail, the IRCC website has a free tool that tells whether you are eligible or not.
Clean record
You need a clean record certificate from the Police or judiciary officials in the country you are residing in.
Medical examination
A medical certificate that indicates you are healthy and pose no health risk/threat to the Canadian people.
Move to Canada as a teacher today. Just read our article.
Step 4. Submitting the requirements
After checking and proving your eligibility on the IRCC website, it gives a code that is a confirmation of your eligibility. You need to create an account on the IRCC website that requires a verified email address. After signing in, enter the code you received. The website shows you all the sections you have to complete.
Each section is a question about the eligibility principles. You also need to submit the scanned form of supporting documents. Your account in the IRCC is “Save & Exit.” It means you can complete it step by step, submitting documents at different times. However, you only have two months to complete it. If not, you have to start the process again.
When everything is complete, you can submit it. In the process, you can work on your situation and improve your position. For instance, you can search for a job offer and receive one, take another language test and get a higher score. The following sources can help you find a job in Canada;
- monster.ca
- ziprectuiter.ca
- eluta.ca
- jobbank.gc.ca
- careerbuilder.ca
- ca.indeed.com
- indeed.com
- hotjobscanada.ca
- simplyhired.ca
- jobs.ca
Remember that you need to submit the requirements online. So you need the scanned form of your documents.
Doctors are the applicants who can use CEC to immigrate to Canada.
Step 5. Receiving an invitation to apply
The Canadian immigration authorities evaluate the submitted profiles. Applicants with the highest scores get the invitation to apply for Permanent Residency. You might receive an invitation for a different Express Entry program. You may refuse or accept it; choices are yours.
Remember that if you refuse the invitation, you have to start the process again.
Step 6. Permanent Residency application
When you approve receiving the CEC, the officials will send you further instructions to apply for a Permanent Residency. Then, you need to provide the supporting documents at this stage then pay the fee.
When you finish this step, the authorities review your application and decide to grant you residency or not. If your application gets approved, you can begin the process of moving to Canada. Now you can reserve your ticket and arrange a place to stay.
Remember that you need to reserve a hotel and stay in quarantine unless you are vaccinated against COVID-19. However, at the moment, Canadian officials only have approved the following vaccines;
- Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)
- Moderna
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- AstraZeneca
Lawyers can use CEC to immigrate to Canada.
You were a full-time student in Canada. Are you eligible for CEC?
Your work experience as a full-time student in Canada doesn’t count for CEC. You need to have work experience aside from your student visa.
Let’s sum up…
The article explained all you should know about the Canadian Experience Class. If you have one year of full-time or three years of part-time work experience in Canada and other eligibility principles, you can apply for CEC.
You can move permanently to Canada through the CEC and live like a citizen.
If you have experience or knowledge of visas, write them down in the comment section. They are great at helping visa applicants.
- Published by
- Max-B.