Canadian Experience
What kind of work did you do?
Not every job qualifies you for Express Entry’s Canadian Experience Class (EE CEC) and work done on a student visa doesn’t count. In order for work to qualify for the skilled worker program, it needs to be in a qualifying profession:
- Skill Level 0: Management – almost any type of job that includes manager or supervisor in the title
- Skill Level A: Professional – most office jobs
- Skill Level B: Technical – these jobs often require an Associate’s degree or apprenticeship of some kind
You can check the skill level of your job to make sure you’ll qualify.
Did you go to school in Canada?
The most common route from student visa to Canadian citizenship is to use the post graduation work permit to get the experience required for Express Entry’s Canadian Experience Class. Most Canadian graduates will qualify for Express Entry after a year of working full-time.
How is this different from the Federal Skilled Worker Class?
If you’re applying for the Canadian Experience Class while living and working in Canada you won’t need to show proof of funds, since you’re already settled.
You will have to show that you’re working legally (as in, providing a copy of your current work permit) and have paid your taxes.
You’ll only need to document your qualifying work experience in Canada. This saves you from having to dig up documents on every other job you’ve had since you turned 18.
All the ways you can move to Canada, legally
Your passport isn’t enough to allow you to move to Canada.
If you’re looking to immigrate to Canada, there are a number of pathways to permanent residency and citizenship.
Have skills
If your score is high enough, you can have PR status within 6 months.
Marry a Canadian
Marriage doesn’t automatically get you a Canadian passport, sorry.
Take a working holiday
If you’re under 35, you can try out living in Canada for up to two years.
What you need to know
There are a lot of things to think about before moving to another country.
Other options
There are a lot of ways to move to Canada. See which is the best fit for you.
Can you move to Canada?
Take the quiz and find out in 5 minutes.
.
Serious about moving?
The definitive guide to Express Entry
Do you qualify for Canada’s skilled worker program? It doesn’t require a job offer or even a degree if you have what they’re looking for.
How Express Entry Works
Exactly how Canada’s skilled worker program works, including how much it cost us and the timeline for our application.
Express Entry document checklist
A comprehensive list of the documents you’ll need for Express Entry, with or without a spouse.
How to improve your CRS score
These 9 ways will bump up your comprehensive ranking system (CRS) points without breaking the rules.
Moving to Canada
You get your visa to move to Canada.
What comes next?
- Declaring yourself a landed immigrant
- Getting pets across the border
- Moving your things through customs without owing duties
- Getting new IDs, enrolling in health insurance, and getting your SIN
Canada is just like home.
Except for when it’s not. I share what I’ve learned to save you some trouble.
Living in Canada
Living in Toronto
Welcome to Toronto
Toronto is Canada's largest city, it's financial capital, and a place where over 50% of residents were born abroad.
- Toronto neighborhood guide for new residents from a New York perspective
- How to rent an apartment in Toronto without a credit history and without getting scammed
- Buying a condo in Toronto as a newcomer without standard documentation
- Setting up your first home in Canada Hydro, metered internet, and how to furnish your apartment.
- How to survive your first Canadian winter It's really not that bad.
There’s more to being Canadian than watching hockey and saying ‘eh.’
Canada isn’t just a colder US, it’s got a culture and history of it’s own. They’re just too modest to brag about it.
- Becoming a Canadian citizen How long it takes, whether or not you have to give up your US citizenship, and other things you should know before making a decision.
- Canadian Federal Government A 101 guide to Canadian politics
- Understanding Canada All the Canadian history you didn't learn in school
- Canadian Travel Guides Discover the best of the Great North
Becoming Canadian
Overwhelmed?
Luckily, we have a simple quiz that will help you sort through the options.
I moved to Canada without an immigration attorney or consultant and you can, too.
Now that I’ve successfully immigrated to Canada from the US using the Express Entry program, I’ve written the guide I wish I’d had.
Get the full story
What other prospective immigrants have said about my book,
Moving to Canada: A complete guide to immigrating to Canada without an attorney.
If you want the step by step process on how to immigrate to Canada, here it is. I found the book easy to read, inspiring, and very informative.
Laura J.I.
This book is very well written, chock full of useful information and tips. The writing style is crisp and engaging. I enjoyed reading about the author's personal experiences with immigrating to Canada, as well as the loads of information she provided on how the process worked. Somehow she took a potentially boring and tedious subject and made it interesting. Did I still have a few questions after reading this book? Of course! But thats because each person has a unique set of needs and personal history and reasons for moving. I believe this book will provide most of the basic information you will need to start the progress of moving to Canada. It is very thorough and well organized. I feel pretty confident that I understand all that will be involved in applying for a permanent residency after having read this book. Plus I enjoyed reading the background material about Canada.
We are an American couple planning our immigration to Canada through the Express Entry program. This book has been very helpful to aid us in planning and organizing all the steps and timelines for the immigration process. It also has lots of other great information about the actual moving, landing, and transitioning process. If you are a professional looking to navigate through the Canadian immigration program this book is well worth the read. We actually are using it as a reference as well, keeping pages bookmarked and using the spreadsheets and timelines, costs, etc as a model for our own documents.
G.B.
Useful for getting a general overview of the process all in one place, rather than searching around the internet.
R. Marshall
A lot of the other books about moving to Canada talk about what it’s like to live in Canada, whereas this book talks about how to actually get there. A must have for anybody thinking about immigrating.
Carter
SIGN UP
This is the only mailing list that won’t send you enough emails.