Canada Express Entry from India (2026): What IRCC Says

The three programs and their stated conditions

Express Entry manages 3 immigration programs: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. For work experience, IRCC lists 1 year in Canada in the last 3 years (Canadian Experience Class, gained while authorized to work under temporary resident status), 1 year continuous within the last 10 years (Federal Skilled Worker Program, which also requires secondary education) and 2 years within the last 5 years (Federal Skilled Trades Program). The trades program requires a valid job offer of full-time employment for at least 1 year or a certificate of qualification from a Canadian provincial, territorial or federal authority. The worker program scores its selection factors out of 100, and IRCC says 67 points or higher may qualify.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Who can apply www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Canadian Experience Class www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Federal Skilled Worker Program

Language tests and minimum levels

The minimum is CLB 7 for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. For the Canadian Experience Class it is CLB 7 for TEER 0 or TEER 1 jobs and CLB 5 for TEER 2 or TEER 3 jobs. The Federal Skilled Trades Program asks CLB 5 for speaking and listening and CLB 4 for reading and writing. IRCC accepts CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core for English, and TEF Canada and TCF Canada for French. IRCC says it does not accept IELTS One Skill Retake for Express Entry. Its Federal Skilled Worker table shows CLB 7 as 6.0 in each IELTS ability. Results must be less than 2 years old when you complete your profile and when you submit your application.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Who can apply www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Language test results

The Comprehensive Ranking System

IRCC uses the Comprehensive Ranking System to score and rank a profile in the pool. Core factors total a maximum of 500 points without a spouse or common-law partner and 460 with one. Without a spouse, the maximums are 110 for age, 150 for education, 160 for official languages and 80 for Canadian work experience. In that case a bachelor's degree is listed at 120, a master's degree at 135, and CLB 10 or more in the first official language at 34 points per ability. Skill transferability factors have a maximum of 100 points. A provincial or territorial nomination is listed at 600. IRCC says it no longer gives CRS points for job offers, as of March 25, 2025, for current and future candidates in the pool.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria

Rounds, categories and invitation deadlines

IRCC invites candidates from the pool in rounds, chosen by CRS points. A round can be general, program-specific or category-based, and category-based rounds also require meeting that category. IRCC's current categories are French-language proficiency; healthcare and social services, STEM, trade, education and transport occupations; physicians, senior managers and researchers with Canadian work experience; and skilled military recruits. IRCC gives you 60 days to complete and submit a profile. If more than one program applies, you are invited to the first of the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and you cannot choose. An invitation is valid for 60 days only, and a profile expires if not invited within 12 months. Entering the pool does not guarantee an invitation.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Rounds of invitations www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Category-based selection www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Create your profile and enter the pool

Education assessment and proof of funds

If you studied outside Canada, you need an educational credential assessment to be the principal applicant in the Federal Skilled Worker Program or to earn points for that education. It must be less than 5 years old when you complete your profile and submit your application. Most people must use one of five designated organizations, including World Education Services; for a primary occupation as architect, doctor or pharmacist, IRCC says a designated professional body must be used; for architects and pharmacists, IRCC says this applies only if the job needs a licence. Proof of funds applies to the Federal Skilled Worker and Skilled Trades programs, not the Canadian Experience Class, and not if you are authorized to work in Canada and have a valid job offer. IRCC's table, labelled Updated July 7, 2025, lists $15,263 for 1 family member and $19,001 for 2. IRCC says it updates these numbers every year.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Educational credential assessment www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Proof of funds

Police certificate from India

IRCC's page for India names the document as a Police Clearance Certificate. It lists the local district police station, the Passport office, an Indian embassy or consulate and the BLS International Centre as places to apply. It says Character Certificates are not accepted, nor are certificates limited by jurisdiction or time period searched. IRCC says Express Entry candidates have 60 days to submit police certificates and advises starting the police check as soon as you are in the pool.

www.canada.ca: How to get a police certificate – India www.canada.ca: Police certificate: When to get a police certificate

Other police certificates and the medical exam

The certificate for the country where you currently reside must be issued no more than 6 months before you submit your application. For any other country, IRCC says the police certificate must be issued after the last time you lived there for 6 consecutive months or longer since the age of 18. Certificates must be colour scans of the originals; IRCC says certified true copies won't be accepted and will result in the application being rejected. For the medical exam, IRCC says you must see a panel physician after the invitation and before you apply, and results are valid for 12 months.

www.canada.ca: Police certificate: When to get a police certificate www.canada.ca: Medical examination for permanent residence applicants

Fees and what IRCC reports about candidates from India

IRCC's fee list, on a page modified on 21 September 2026, shows these amounts in $CAN: 990.00 for your application without the right of permanent residence fee and 1,590.00 with it, 270.00 per dependent child, and 600.00 for the right of permanent residence fee. IRCC's application page lists a biometrics fee among the fees to pay; the same fee list shows 85.00 per individual and a maximum of 170.00 for a family of 2 or more people applying at the same time. IRCC's Express Entry Year-End Report 2024 says India remained the most common country of citizenship among candidates who received an invitation to apply, at 43% in 2024 compared with 47% in 2023. IRCC calls that data preliminary and subject to change.

ircc.canada.ca: Citizenship and immigration application fees: Fee list www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence www.canada.ca: Express Entry Year-End Report 2024

What this page does not cover

This page does not cover the results and lowest CRS scores of recent invitation rounds, processing times, what IRCC counts as qualifying skilled work experience and the full Federal Skilled Worker selection grid, the proof-of-funds amounts for families of three or more and how IRCC counts family size, the eligibility rules of each invitation category, the costs charged by language test centres, credential assessment organizations, panel physicians and police authorities, provincial nominee programs, Quebec's own skilled worker selection, the certificate of qualification requirements of each province, or life in Canada after arrival such as housing, taxes or health cover. Check the official pages for them.