How to Move to Canada as a Permanent Resident

To move to Canada as a permanent resident, you apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) through one of three main routes: the Express Entry system for skilled workers, a Provincial Nominee Program tied to a specific province’s labor needs, or family sponsorship by a relative who is already a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Quebec runs its own separate selection system. Whichever route you use, you’ll need to meet the program’s eligibility rules, clear medical and criminal admissibility checks, prove you have enough money to settle, and submit a documented application through IRCC’s online portal.

Choose Your Pathway

The right route depends on your work experience, language ability, education, family ties in Canada, and where you want to live.

Express Entry

Express Entry is the online system IRCC uses to manage applications for three federal economic programs.¹ Which program fits you depends on where your work experience is from:

The Federal Skilled Worker Program is for people with foreign or Canadian skilled work experience.
The Canadian Experience Class is for people who already have eligible Canadian work experience.
The Federal Skilled Trades Program is for qualified tradespeople.²

Express Entry itself is a selection system, not a program. You create a profile, get a score under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), and enter a pool. IRCC runs periodic draws and invites the highest-scoring candidates to apply. If your score meets the cutoff for a draw, you receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) and have 60 days to submit a full application.

Provincial Nominee Programs

Provincial Nominee Programs let individual provinces and territories nominate people whose skills, education, and work experience match their local economic needs.³ Each province runs its own streams with distinct criteria. Some streams are linked to Express Entry, and a nomination through those adds 600 CRS points to your profile, which effectively guarantees an invitation. Other streams run on a separate paper-based or online process outside Express Entry. Provinces often prioritize applicants who already have a job offer, past work, or study experience in the region.

Quebec’s Separate System

Quebec manages skilled worker immigration independently. Applicants must first obtain a Certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ) from the provincial government before applying to IRCC for permanent residence. The Skilled Worker Selection Program has four streams based on occupation type, and all streams require you to sign a Financial Self-Sufficiency Contract and obtain an attestation confirming you have learned about Quebec’s democratic values.⁴

French is not optional in Quebec. The top-tier stream for highly qualified workers requires spoken French at level 7 or higher and written French at level 5 or higher on Quebec’s own proficiency scale. Even the intermediate skills stream requires spoken French at level 5 or higher.⁴ If Quebec is on your list, invest in French early.

Family Sponsorship

Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor close relatives to become permanent residents, including spouses, common-law partners, dependent children, parents, and grandparents.⁵ The sponsor must be at least 18 and must sign a legally binding undertaking to financially support the sponsored person for a set period, which varies by relationship. During that period, the sponsor is responsible for ensuring the family member does not need to rely on government social assistance.

Building Toward PR From Temporary Status

Many people arrive on a study permit or work permit and transition later. Canadian work experience and education completed in Canada both contribute CRS points, which makes this a common path for younger applicants. Post-graduation work permits let international students work in Canada after their studies and build the experience needed for programs like the Canadian Experience Class.

How the CRS Score Works

If Express Entry is your route, the CRS decides whether you’re invited to apply. It assigns up to 1,200 points across four categories.⁶

Core human capital factors like age, education, language proficiency, and Canadian work experience account for up to 500 points if you’re applying without a spouse or common-law partner (460 if you have one). A spouse’s education, language ability, and Canadian work experience can add up to 40 points. Skill transferability factors, which combine education and experience with language skills, contribute up to 100 more.

The biggest single boost sits in the additional points category, worth up to 600 points. A provincial or territorial nomination alone is worth 600. Other additional points come from French language skills (up to 50), post-secondary education completed in Canada (up to 30), and having a sibling who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (15). As of March 25, 2025, IRCC removed points that were previously awarded for job offers from employers.⁶

Admissibility Checks Everyone Faces

Whichever pathway you use, every applicant clears the same admissibility screens. Failing any of these can sink an otherwise strong application.

Medical Exam

You must have a medical exam performed by an IRCC-designated physician. The exam screens for conditions that could pose a public health risk or create what IRCC calls “excessive demand” on Canadian health or social services.⁷ Most routine health conditions don’t cause problems; conditions requiring ongoing costly treatment can trigger an inadmissibility finding.

Police Certificates

You may be asked to provide police certificates from any country where you’ve lived for a significant period.⁸ In practice, plan on clearances from every country you’ve lived in for six months or more since turning 18. Some countries take months to process these, so start early.

Biometrics

Most applicants must provide fingerprints and a photograph at a designated collection point. The fee is $85 CAD per person, with a family maximum of $170 CAD.⁹ After submitting your application, you’ll get instructions on where and when to complete biometrics.

Prove You Can Support Yourself

For most economic programs, you must show you have enough money to support yourself and your family when you arrive. The minimums are set at 50% of Canada’s low-income cutoff and updated annually. The figures updated July 7, 2025 are:¹⁰

1 family member: $15,263 CAD
2 family members: $19,001 CAD
3 family members: $23,360 CAD
4 family members: $28,362 CAD
5 family members: $32,168 CAD
6 family members: $36,280 CAD
7 family members: $40,392 CAD
Each additional member beyond 7: $4,112 CAD

The funds must be available and transferable. IRCC generally wants to see bank or investment statements showing you’ve held these amounts consistently, not a one-time deposit made right before applying. The settlement fund requirement does not apply if you already have a valid job offer in Canada or if you’re applying through the Canadian Experience Class.

Gather Your Documents

Language tests, credential assessments, and employer letters all take time, and they’re the pieces most applicants underestimate.

For Express Entry programs, language ability carries heavy CRS weight. You must take an approved standardized test and have the results converted to Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) levels. Approved English tests include CELPIP, IELTS, and PTE Core; approved French tests include TEF Canada and TCF Canada.¹¹ Results are valid for two years. Taking both English and French tests can raise your score even if one language is much stronger.

If your education was outside Canada, you need an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) confirming your degree, diploma, or certificate is equivalent to a Canadian credential.¹² The ECA must come from an IRCC-designated organization, and processing runs from several weeks to several months. Order yours before you create your Express Entry profile. Canadian credentials don’t need an ECA.

Work experience rules matter too. The Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class both require at least one year of full-time skilled work experience, defined as 1,560 hours total at 30 hours per week, or an equivalent amount of part-time work such as 15 hours per week for 24 months.¹³ For the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the experience can come from anywhere in the world.¹⁴ For the Canadian Experience Class, it must be Canadian work experience gained in the three years before you apply.

Pull together the full documentation set before submission:

Valid passport, birth certificate, and marriage or divorce certificates where relevant.
Language test results from an IRCC-approved organization.
ECA report for any non-Canadian education.
Detailed employer letters confirming job title, duties, hours, and dates.
Police certificates from every country you’ve lived in for six months or more since age 18.
Bank statements or financial documents proving settlement funds.
Certified translations for anything not in English or French.

Missing or incomplete documents are one of the most common reasons applications get delayed or returned. Check that employer letters describe your duties in enough detail for an officer to confirm the work falls under a skilled occupation category.

Submit and Wait for a Decision

For Express Entry, the whole application happens through the online portal. After you receive an ITA, you upload your documents, complete the forms, and pay the processing fees along with the Right of Permanent Residence Fee (RPRF).¹⁵ Errors in dates, names, or uploads can add months to your timeline, so review everything before you submit. Biometrics instructions typically follow shortly after.

Processing times vary by program and by current application volumes; IRCC publishes estimated timelines on its website. During processing, IRCC may request additional documents or clarification, and in some cases call you for an interview. Respond quickly, because delays on your end stretch the overall timeline.

If you’re already in Canada on a work permit and it’s about to expire while your PR application is being processed, look into a Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP). It lets you keep working legally while you wait. To qualify, you generally need to be the principal applicant on a PR application that has passed IRCC’s completeness check, and to have your acknowledgement of receipt letter.¹⁶ Specific eligibility depends on which PR program you applied through.

If your application is approved, you’ll receive a Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) document with instructions for the landing process. If you’re outside Canada, you’ll also receive a permanent resident visa to present at the port of entry. If the application is refused, the decision letter explains why, and depending on the circumstances you may be able to appeal or reapply.

Keep Your Status After You Land

Permanent residence isn’t permanent by itself. To keep your status, you must be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days during every rolling five-year period. Those days don’t need to be consecutive.¹⁷ Some time abroad may still count, such as time spent accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse or working for a Canadian business outside the country.

You can lose PR status by failing the residency obligation, becoming inadmissible for serious criminality, or voluntarily renouncing it.¹⁸ It also ends automatically when you become a Canadian citizen, which most PRs become eligible for after enough physical presence in Canada.

Know the Tax Consequences Before You Land

Once you establish residential ties in Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats you as a tax resident, and you’re required to report income from sources both inside and outside Canada.¹⁹ Significant ties include a home in Canada and a spouse or dependants living here; secondary ties include Canadian bank accounts or a provincial health card. For most new PRs, Canadian tax residency starts the day you land.

U.S. citizens face a special situation because the United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live. That means filing returns in both countries, with the Canada-U.S. tax treaty helping prevent double taxation through foreign tax credits. If you later renounce U.S. citizenship, IRS Form 8854 applies. You may be classified as a “covered expatriate” and owe a mark-to-market exit tax on unrealized gains if any of the following are true: your average annual net income tax liability for the preceding five years exceeds $206,000, your net worth is $2 million or more, or you can’t certify full tax compliance for the five preceding years.²⁰ The penalty for failing to file Form 8854 when required is $10,000. If renunciation is on your radar, talk to a cross-border tax professional before you make any moves.

1
Government of Canada. Express Entry
2
Canada.ca. Express Entry: Who Can Apply
3
Government of Canada. Immigrate as a Provincial Nominee
4
Gouvernement du Québec. Requirements That Need to Be Met Under the Programme de Selection des Travailleurs Qualifies
5
Government of Canada. Sponsor Your Family Members
6
Government of Canada. Express Entry: Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Criteria
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Government of Canada. What Does It Mean if I’m Medically Inadmissible for Excessive Demand Reasons
8
Government of Canada. SECU – Security Screening and Admissibility – August 28, 2024
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Canada.ca. 2024-2025 Fees Report
10
Canada.ca. Documents for Express Entry: Proof of Funds
11
Government of Canada. Express Entry: Language Test Results
12
Government of Canada. Educational Credential Assessment
13
Canada.ca. Express Entry: Canadian Experience Class
14
Canada.ca. Express Entry: Federal Skilled Worker Program
15
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Application Fees
16
Government of Canada. Bridging Open Work Permit for Permanent Residence Applicants
17
Government of Canada. Understand Permanent Resident Status
18
Government of Canada. Can I Lose My Permanent Resident Status
19
Canada.ca. Factual Residents – Temporarily Outside of Canada
20
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8854 – Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement