Express Entry #185 – 400 CRS Points – Canadian Experience Class Only

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) is among the three immigration programs managed under Canada’s Express Entry system. The program is designed for skilled workers who have Canadian work experience and want to become permanent residents. Many of these skilled workers are international students who studied in Canada and then started working on a post-graduate work permit (PGWP).

Under the CEC, an applicant who is a temporary foreign worker, or an international student, can apply their work experience and education towards their applications for Canadian permanent residency. The CEC supports the transition from a temporary status to permanent taking into account the time that the international student or skilled worker spent in Canada while contributing to Canadian society.

CEC Draw #185 Results

CEC Draw #185 issued 6,000 invitations to apply (ITAs) to candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 400. This is a decrease of 17 points compared to the prior CEC Draw held on April 16th, 2021, and one of the lowest CRS scores for the CEC on record.

IRCC applied its tie-breaking rule with the timestamp of April 24, 2021, at 15:24:49 UTC. This means that Candidates who had the minimum score of 400 are only invited if they submitted their Express Entry profile before the tie-breaking rule.

CEC Requirements

 Eligibility for the CEC is as follows:

  • meet the required language levels needed for your job for each language ability within writing, reading, listening, and speaking
  • have at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada, in the last 3 years before you apply. The work experience must be full-time or an equal amount in part-time
  • have gained your work experience by working in Canada legally

How Canadian Work Experience is Calculated

  • Your skilled work experience must be paid work including paid wages or earned commission. Volunteer work or unpaid internships are not counted.
  • For part-time work, you can work more or less than 15 hours/week as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours. You can work more than 1 part-time job to get the hours you need to apply!

What are National Occupational Classification Codes?

The Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC) is used to classify occupations based on the job duties and skill requirement. The NOC assigns skilled work experience based on:

  • managerial jobs (skill level 0)
  • professional jobs (skill type A)
  • technical jobs and skilled trades (skill type B)

Your work experience can be in 1 or more NOC 0, A or B jobs. You can find your NOC Code here!

Education Requirements for CEC Immigration

Although there is no education requirement for the CEC, you can increase your CRS score

if you went to school in Canada and earned a minimum of a certificate, diploma or degree from a Canadian University or post-secondary institution.

Language Requirement for CEC

Applicants must meet the minimum language level of Canadian Language Benchmark 7 for NOC 0 or A jobs OR Canadian Language Benchmark 5 for NOC B jobs and take an approved language test measuring writing, reading, listening, and speaking.

Your language tests are valid for 2 years after the date of the test result and must be valid on the day you apply for permanent residence.

Current Numbers

As of April 26, 2021, there were 167,159 express entry profiles in the pool. This shows a definite commitment by the government to stay on track to meet its target of welcoming over 400,000 newcomers throughout the year. Today’s draw brought the total ITAs to 61,771. Coming very close to doubling the numbers issued compared to this time last year.

International students coming to Canada are definitely at an advantage right now post COVID due to increased demand and shortage of workers. Canada is facilitating programs aimed at securing international students’ ability to remain in Canada.