How long does it take to get permanent residence through Express Entry?
The time needed to navigate Canada’s Express Entry system on the journey to permanent residence (PR) can vary widely: from a few months to a multi-year process.
The exact timeline depends on each candidate’s personal circumstances, their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, their eligibility for Express Entry categories, and more.
This article will outline the factors that make up your timeline to receive PR under Canada’s Express Entry system.
See your eligibility for all Express Entry streams
The stages to obtain PR under Express Entry can broadly be broken down into:
Time taken to meet program minimum eligibility;
Time spent in the Express Entry candidate pool, to receive an invitation to apply (ITA);
Time spent applying; and
Time spent waiting for the PR application to be processed.
Time taken to meet the minimum eligibility
The Express Entry system contains three distinct programs, all of which operate on an Expression of Interest (EOI) model. These programs include the:
Canadian Experience Class (CEC);
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP); and
Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).
Under these programs, the time taken to meet minimum eligibility usually corresponds to the work experience requirements. This is because IRCC’s method of counting work hours necessitates that work experience be accumulated over a set time period.
Based on the required work experience, the minimum amount of time that a foreign national would need to gain eligibility under each Express Entry program is as follows:
CEC FSWP FSTP
One year (of Canadian work experience) One year (of full-time work) Two years (of full-time work in the skilled trade of their choosing)
Readers should note that they may need more time to meet other basic criteria required to submit a candidate profile.
The following table gives an overview of all eligibility criteria under each Express Entry program:
For more information on eligibility requirements and conditions of Express Entry programs, visit our dedicated webpage.
After meeting basic eligibility for one of Express Entry’s programs, foreign nationals must submit an EOI profile in the Express Entry pool (after which they become Express Entry candidates).
For many who immigrate through Express Entry (depending on how competitive their CRS score is), this period can be the longest of their immigration timeline, as they wait for an ITA.
Candidates can use this time in the Express Entry pool to increase factors that positively impact their CRS score—such as education, language ability, and work experience.
Candidates in the pool may also want to spend time building eligibility for category-based selection draws through Express Entry, which often feature lower CRS cut-off scores than program-based draws under the system.
Occupational categories typically require six months of relevant work experience in an eligible occupation (this is in addition to, or can be included within, the basic work requirements covered earlier for Express Entry programs), while French category-based selection requires a proven language proficiency equivalent to a Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) level 7 in all language abilities.
Express Entry profiles expire after one year of submission and must be resubmitted by the candidate to continue to be considered for immigration draws through the system.
For more information on how to maximize your time in the Express Entry pool, visit our dedicated article on the topic.
See how competitive your Express Entry profile is
Whether or not your CRS score is currently competitive in the candidate pool, it is generally a good idea to submit a profile and enter the Express Entry pool as soon as possible, as both draw types and draw sizes can vary greatly and are unpredictable.
While it is impossible to say for certain how long each candidate will spend in the pool, certain clues can help us assess the likelihood of a person receiving an ITA based on previous trends.
To get a better idea of how long you may spend in the candidate pool, you may wish to consider the frequency of draws for your program/category and how the latest CRS cut-off score compares to yours.
The following table provides the count of Express Entry draws by type (program or category), and the latest CRS cut-off scores as of this time of writing:
Draw Type Number of Draws in 2025 (as of time of writing)Latest CRS Cut-off Score
Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) 21 738
Canadian Experience Class (CEC) 12 533
French-language proficiency 7 416
Healthcare and social services 6 462
Education 2 462
Trade 1 505
It is worth noting that IRCC can change the draw types, the draw sizes (which in turn influence CRS cut-off scores), and the frequency of draws as they see fit, based on their immigration goals.
Time spent applying
After a candidate receives an ITA for PR, they have 60 days to submit a complete application.
Theoretically, if a candidate has an application ready, they can submit it as soon as they get an ITA. However, due to the kind of documents needed for a complete application, this is rarely the case.
In particular, certain documents, like an immigration medical exam and police clearance certificates, are contingent on third-party entities to deliver those documents, and so the time to submit a complete PR application can often climb to weeks.
A full list of needed documents for a PR application under Express Entry can be found below:
Note: Based on an applicant’s circumstances (for example, what Express Entry program they apply under), they may not be required to submit some documents needed in a standard PR application. Many people choose to retain an immigration lawyer as they begin the application process to ensure that they receive guidance to submit the best possible application.
Consult with an experienced immigration representative
Time waiting for an application to be processed
Finally, after submitting a complete application for PR, you must now wait for your application to be processed.
Processing times for PR applications can easily take multiple months. At this stage, applicants should take note of two separate time measures:
Processing times; and
Service standards.
Processing times give you real-time updates* as to how your application is being processed, while service standards can give you a general idea of how long the entire process may take.
More specifically, processing times are a measure of how long IRCC has taken to process applications of a certain type, with consideration to recent processing efficiency.
IRCC has recently made some drastic changes to how it reports processing times, giving applicants under some programs a far more personalized view of their application processing.
You can take a look at the time required to process a PR application here.
Service standards are IRCC’s formal target for how quickly they aim to process a specific type of application under normal conditions. Service standards
Are a commitment or goal, not a guarantee.
Don’t get updated as frequently as processing times; and
Are not present for every program IRCC runs.
IRCC’s service times for Express Entry applications are six months. Their adherence to these standards, and target for future applications, is as follows:
Program Service Standard IRCC adherence to service standards IRCC targets
Canadian Experience Class 180 days 85% 80%
Federal Skilled Worker Program 180 days 86% 80%
Federal Skilled Trades Program 180 days (not including provincial/territorial processing, where applicable) N/A 80%
*IRCC publishes two kinds of processing times:
Historical processing times
Forward-looking processing times
Historical processing times show how long it took IRCC to finalize 80% of applications in the past. These are based on real, completed applications, and are updated every week.
Forward-looking processing times are an estimate of how long IRCC expects it will take to process a new application submitted today. These are predictive and future-oriented processing times that are updated every month.
