Get your Canadian Permanent Residency within 6 months*

The actual timeline you go through to get your PR.

• Give IELTS test
• Get IELTS test results after 14 days
• Complete Express Entry profile. (You only need IELTS score and WES application number)
• Complete Job Bank registration (optional)
• Wait for Invitation to Apply (ITA)
• Receive ITA and Accept
• Fill redundant information from Express Entry profile** and upload relevant documents within 90-days
• Pay the application fee and PR fee
• Monitor updates on background check
• Receive Ready for Visa / Request for Passport (RFP) email
• Send passport and form within 30 days
• Receive passport and 2 copies of COPR
• Travel before the expiration date on Visa/COPR

It is important to update your profile if your situation changes (including spouse or partner) before applying online for Permanent Residence. If an IRCC officer finds false information, your application could be refused and state you inadmissible, bar for five years from applying to come to Canada for any reason.

The suggested sequence to follow to quicken the PR application process, from my experience.

• IELTS

  Register and Prepare for IELTS

  Start by booking your IELTS test date. Depending on the country you take the test, the registration website might differ, but the test pattern accepted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is General Training. Each test center conducts the test twice per month and there might be only one center per state, so book your test date in advance as the current wait time is more than 3-4 months in the US.

  Test pattern

  The English language tests minimum language requirements in four modules. Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The bench mark scores to get the most points under Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) are L 8.5-9.0, R 8.0-9.0, W 7.5-9.0 and S 7.5-9.0. Individual band scores are what make or break your score, not combined score. It is very important to know the pattern of the IELTS general training test, practice various mock tests on the IELTS website.

  At the test center

  You are not allowed to take anything with you, including your watch inside the exam hall. The test center will provide a safe place to hold your personal belongings for the duration of exam, which cannot be accessed during the test. ONLY your Passport is allowed with you. You will be provided with enough stationary for the entire test. Transparent water bottles without any labels are allowed. Test centers in the US do not provide individual headsets for the Listening section, the audio is played on a CD player or class room speakers. It will be audible and the exam conductor will make sure to test the audio before the test begins. There will be a clock in the test room and the exam conductor will remind you at 40-minutes, 20-minutes, 10-minutes, 2-minutes. Pay close attention to instructions and read them twice on the question paper.

  Results

  You can check your test results after 14-days and make a note of your "Test Report Form Number" till you get the original result on paper to your physical address given during the exam. With your score and Test Report Form Number you can proceed to start your Express Entry profile. You upload the original paper copy after you get the ITA along with other required documents per your profile.

  Other information

  Your spouse can also give IELTS to claim spouse language points along with the primary applicant.

  You have two alternate options for a language test accepted by IRCC, on which I do not have much information.

  • Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP)
  • TEF (French language proficiency)

• Identity History Summary - FBI fingerprint (USA only)

  If you have stayed for more than 6-months in the US, irrespective of your nationality and visa status, you need to get your Identity History Summary provided by the FBI. Read more here.

  Where to? How to?

  If you are a US Citizen: There are approved FBI channelers. This option is the quickest but costs around $200 per person but you get your summary in a day or two. If you are not in a rush or do not want to pay $200 for a $18 service, read below.

  Non-US Citizen: Now you can receive an Electronic Document of the summary from the UPDATED NEW OPTION. You have to fill up a form with your personal details and the type of summary requested, pay the fee online, go to a nearest official center that has finger printing service (Rolling fingerprint on fingerprint form FD-258) generally at a City Council office, Sheriff's office, County Jail; Google is your friend to find this service nearby. You cannot print this on an A-4 size paper and send it. It is only accepted on a card type form which is provided by the aforementioned personnel or can be bought on Amazon. But still it has to be a rolling fingerprint which could be tricky and an official has to sign the form, so it is easier to find a center nearby.

  Finally, the address to mail the form and fingerprint form card is
  FBI CJIS Division
  ATTN: ELECTRONIC SUMMARY REQUEST
  1000 Custer Hollow Road
  Clarksburg, WV 26306
  

  Before 2018, there was a 14-16 weeks processing period plus additional time for regular mail delivery to get the Identity History Summary. Complete the Applicant Information Form, Obtain your fingerprints like mentioned above on the fingerprint form FD-258, get a money order or cashier check for $18 USD (per person) payable to the Treasury of the United States or using the credit card payment form and mail of these to this address:
  FBI CJIS Division – Summary Request
  1000 Custer Hollow Road
  Clarksburg, WV 26306
  

  PLEASE VERIFY THE ADDRESS ON OFFICIAL WEBSITE BEFORE SENDING.

• Police Clearance Certificate (PCC)

  Every country will issue a Police Clearance Certificate AKA good conduct certificates, judicial record extracts. Any family member 18 or above accompanying you (even at a later date) has to get one issued. It is mandatory to get a PCC from where you stayed for more than 6 months in a row in the last 10 years since you were 18 years old. If you need one from the country where you currently live, it must have been issued within the last 6 months. Search where can get your PCC in advance, as processing times can be more than 4-6 weeks and if you are residing in a foreign country and the PCC is issued at a Consulate/Embassy of your home country, you will have to send your Original Passport along with supporting documents. Plan accordingly.

  Fellow Indians applying from the US, depending on the state you currently live in, the issuing authority can be different. I was in Ohio before moving to Canada, so I sent my request to the Consulate General of India in New York which serves the States of: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Consulate General of India Houston serves the States of: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska. Consulate General of India Atlanta serves the States of: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennesse and Virgin Islands. Embassy of India Washington, D.C. serves the States of: Bermuda, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Consulate General of India Chicago serves the States of: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Consulate General of India San Francisco serves the States of: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and Territory of Guam.

  You will find the required form and detailed information to get your Police Clearance Certificate under Miscellaneous/Attestation Services. You will send your Original Passport, One address proof, 1 or 2 notarized copies of passport and address proof, application fee and return mail charge in the form of cashier check or money order. Please check the conditions specifically listed on the Consulate/Embassy website for the same day service at the location if you will need your passport for travel or other reasons.

• WES - Education Evaluation

  You need to get your education qualifications evaluated by a recognized organization and World Education Services (WES) is the most trusted. For IRCC specific evaluation please select "ECA Application for IRCC" when you register. You will be provided a WES reference number after paying the fee which has to be mentioned on all the envelopes with your transcripts. If you have completed all your education in one country then the transcripts of the highest degree is enough for evaluation. In cases where Bachelor's degree is from home country and Master's degree is from a foreign country, both individual transcripts have to be evaluated to match its equivalency to Canadian Bachelor's and Master's. DO NOT SEND YOUR ORIGINAL DEGREE certificates, your university will provide transcripts for such purpose. Have them mail the transcripts in a sealed envelope to your address, then you can write your WES reference number on those sealed unopened envelopes and mail them in one combined package to WES. The university personnel can send them directly to WES too but they would have to fill an additional form and include within the sealed envelope holding your transcripts which is too much of an ask from them. You will get a downloadable copy after they are done with the evaluation which should can be uploaded after you receive your ITA. For the paper copy, there is an expedited option (trackable) to get the evaluation copy sent to you which is extra or you can wait for the regular Canadian post mail which is not trackable and takes 3-4 weeks depending on where you stay.

  Spouse education also earns some points, so get their education certificates also evaluated. Also, it is not mandatory to get one if you have at least one year of recent work experience in Canada OR your work experience falls under NOC Skill Type B (skilled manual work)

• Experience Letters

  You will be asked to provide an experience letter for every employer you list that you worked for after you turned 18 years of age. An IRCC officer reviewing your profile and documents will look for five major things on your experience letter.

  • Is it on a company letterhead?
  • Full name
  • Duration you worked for
  • Roles and Responsibilities
  • Was it a Full-time, paid job?

  The officer will want the name of the company and address listed on the letterhead to contact your employer to verify your employment with them. The job has to be a Paid, Full-time or equivalent to a part-time and have a few points listed under Roles and Responsibilities to what you worked and how those skills will help you as a Skilled Worked in Canada. They also ask you to list a NOC code to each role, but in my experience, every employer will have their own format for experience letter and will not entertain custom requests. Unfortunately, the experience letters you provide should have those five(5) essentials listed above or you will have to provide supporting documents proving employment under those responsibilities. The roles and responsibilities listed will help the officer understand your NOC Skill Type and how many points can you get for your work experience out of Canada. Please do not provide fake or false documents, as there will be a thorough background check.

  You gain extra points if you have ever worked or currently work in Canada on a work visa. Intra Company Transfer if applicable to you will be considered work in Canada but not an offer letter.

  Find your NOC here and identify the responsibilities the officer will be searching for.

  If you changed roles?

  Experience out of Canada is calculated in a range of less than a year, 1 year, 2 years, 3 or more years. Remember your experience has to be a Paid, Full-Time job with the role and responsibilities closely falling under any of these; NOC Skill Type A (professional jobs), NOC Skill Type B (skilled trades/manual work) or NOC Skill Type 0 (managerial jobs). If you had to change multiple roles every year for different employers or the same employer, you will get points for 1 year experience only. Here is my example: I worked as a graduate assistant during my Master's degree which was part-time (does not count), was on an unpaid internship for 6-months (does not count), paid full-time job as a UI-developer (NOC code 2175) for Company A from September 2015 to September 2016, paid full-time job as a UI-developer (NOC code 2175) for Company B from September 2016 to August 2017 (month I submitted my application, but was still working). So my total work experience was counted as 2 years under one occupation categorized to NOC Skill Type A.

• Proof of Funds

  You have to prove to the officer that you have enough funds that can be used to support you when you move to Canada. Every bank has their own format to provide a Balance Summary on a bank letterhead with contact information which should contain your Full name, account number(s), date from when the account was open, summary of current balance available and average balance for past 6 months. Try to convince the branch manager to include most of the information requested or you might have to provide further documentation if asked by the officer. The amount required to be shown depends on how many family members are listed to accompany the primary applicant to Canada. For only the primary applicant the balance required is - $12,669 CAD; +1 - $15,772 CAD; +2 - $19,390 CAD and so on. Find the latest numbers here. You can also find more information on what type of funds are accepted, generally it is only liquid assets which are readily available to access. Do not worry if the bank only provides the amount in local currency, the officer will do the math, on which I advise to have extra funds than mentioned, just in case the conversion rates are not in your favour that day.

  You do not need to show proof of funds if you are currently authorized to work in Canada or have a valid job offer with Labour Market Impact Assessment done. Application fee is different from the proof of funds, which costs $550 CAD (Processing fee) + $490 CAD (PR Fee), additional fee of $150 CAD for each dependent child. Find more information on fees.

• Medical Certificate

  You need to get a medical exam done by an IRCC approved Panel Physicians and you can Find a Panel Physician near you. You will be have a general check-up like vision, height, weight, muscle reflexes, blood test for HIV and Syphilis, urine test and a Chest X-Ray for tuberculosis. Find your physician and wait till you receive your ITA as the expiry for your COPR/one time entry visa stamp on passport will be one year from the day you take your medical exam. For example: I had my medical exam on 8th Sept 2017 but the information was electronically submitted by the Physician on 13th Sept 2017, so my COPR expiry date was 13th Sept 2018. You will be given a copy of what was submitted which has to be uploaded against medical documentation, but the Physician will electronically submit the whole report to IRCC through their own portal tied to your passport information. Every dependent listed in your profile has to get the medical exam done irrespective of travel date. Fee can vary by doctor, mine costed $400 USD in Ohio, USA.

Monitor your Background Check

• Application status

  Indicates the current status of your application.

  Final update: A final decision has been made. Please see the final decision below.

• Review of eligibility

  Indicates if your complete application is eligible for the program you applied for.

  Final update: Your eligibility has been reviewed. Please see the final decision below.

• Review of medical results

  Review of your medical exam results and tell you if you passed.

  Final update: You passed the medical exam.

• Review of additional documents

  Review of all the supporting documents requested per your profile. You will be requested for additional supporting documents if an officer deems as required.

  Final update: We do not need additional documents.

• Interview

  You will be called for an interview if necessary.

  Final update: You do not need an interview. We will send you a message of this changes.

• Biometrics

  Few applicants who are citizens from specific countries require to provide fingerprints and photographs. Find if you need additional biometrics.

  Final update: We do not need your fingerprints. We will send you a message of this changes.

• Background check

  This is the main status check which will tell you where your application is currently. Sometimes you can see the same information appear again, which means a second officer or a higher officer is reviewing your application. Do not expect this to change every day or every week. It takes several weeks to verify employment and police certificates along with other verifications.

  Final update: Your background check was completed.

• Final decision

  This tells you if your application is: in progress, approved, not approved because it was incomplete, refused, withdrawn, cannot be withdrawn or cancelled.

  Final update: Your application was approved. Check your messages below for details.

Received your COPR? Explore what's next. Plan your travel to Canada and the documents required.

** Any change of information here will require you to go back to waiting in the pool for ITA if the information is different from what points have been awarded. Absolutely do not give false information as this may result in a 5-year ban. Also, provide an email address that you check regularly as you will receive email updates along with any changes in portal.