There is no education requirement for Canadian Experience Class. But, if you want to earn points for your education under Express Entry, you either need:
- a Canadian secondary (high school) or post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree,OR
- a completed foreign credential, and
- an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report from an agency approved by CIC. [The report must show your foreign education is equal to a completed Canadian secondary (highschool) or post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree.]
Note: You will only benefit from getting an ECA if your foreign education is equal to a completed
Canadian high school diploma or greater.
Language Ability
You must:
- meet the minimum language level of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 for NOC 0 or A jobs OR Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 for NOC B jobs, and
- take a language test approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that shows you meet the level for speaking, listening, reading and writing.
You must show that you meet the requirements in English or French by including the test results when you complete your Express Entry profile. Your test results must not be more than two years old on the day you apply for permanent residence or you will need to retake the test.
Principal Applicant
- If you are married or live with a common-law foreign national partner in Canada, and that person also meets the requirements, one or both of you can fill out an Express Entry profile.
- The person who is invited to apply and submits an application is the “principal applicant.”
- A common-law partner is a person who has lived with you in a conjugal relationship for at least one year. Common-law partner refers to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
