Express Entry: Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program is one of the key immigration programs under Express Entry and offers a major pathway for temporary foreign workers and foreign student graduates who have already gained skilled work experience in Canada and want to transition to permanent residence (PR). Since 2008, this program has grown leaps and bounds to become one of the most successful immigration programs across Canada, its employers, and immigration applicants themselves.

The Canadian immigration authorities use Express Entry to manage the CEC program and the interested applicants are ranked using the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores. Every two weeks, when the Express Entry draws are held, candidates having competitive CRS scores will get Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for Canadian PR.

Advantages of CEC

The CEC program encourages applicants to transition from temporarily living in Canada to building a permanent future here. Research by Canadian government agencies like Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Statistics Canada has pointed out one clear thing - that skilled worker applicants that have already lived and worked in Canada will have a much easier time integrating into the job market and Canadian way of living than applicants who come directly from foreign countries. That’s why, the CEC program focuses on providing PR opportunities to temporary foreign workers and international graduate students who have previous work experience in Canada.

It is a proven fact that CEC candidates are able to get more CRS points under express Entry, as compared to applicants under other programs. The qualified CEC applicants usually score quite high in human capital criteria like age, education level, skills, and work experience. In addition, they usually have social and professional networks in Canada because they are already living and working here. This makes them very successful in the Canadian labor market.

Another reason that makes the CEC program attractive to applicants over other programs is that applicants do not need to show any proof of settlement funds for their application. For the other two programs managed under Express Entry – Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP) and Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) – applicants are required to show that they can financially support themselves and their families when they immigrate to Canada.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible under the CEC program, you will need to meet all minimum requirements set for this program. This program is designed as a pass or fail model. When you meet all minimum requirements, you will automatically be assessed under this program in the Express Entry pool. The minimum requirements for the CEC program are as under:

Skilled Work Experience

• You should have a minimum of one year of skilled, professional or technical work experience in Canada within 36 months of your application date. This will be calculated as 1,560 hours in either full-time or part-time work as shown below.

  • When claiming full-time employment, you will need to show 30 hours of work per week for 12 months.

  • For part-time employment, you can show 15 hours of work per week for 24 months or total 30 hours of work per week for 12 months if you have more than one job.

• Your work experience should be in TEER categories 0, 1, 2, or 3, based on the roles and responsibilities in your job.

• Your work experience should have been legally obtained and paid work experience in Canada.

• Self-employment and work experience gained while you were a full-time student, like on a co-op work term, is not counted.

• You can work for more or less than 15 hours per week in part-time roles in multiple jobs as long as it adds up to 1,560 hours. Any hours that you work more than 30 hours per week are not counted.

• You can apply under the CEC program even if you are not living in Canada currently. Just ensure that the work experience you are claiming falls within three years of leaving your job in Canada.

Language Proficiency

For applying under the CEC program, you need to provide proof of your language skills in

either English or French by taking approved language tests. These approved tests are:

For English language:

• Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program or CELPIP General 

• International English Language Testing System or IELTS

• Pearson Test of English or PTE Core

For French language:

• Test d’évaluation de français or TEF Canada

• Test de connaissance du français or TCF Canada

An important thing to keep in mind when applying for the CEC program is that your language proficiency requirements depend on your NOC TEER classification. If your job falls under NOC TEER 2 or 3, you will need a minimum of CLB 5 or NCLC 5 for English and French languages, respectively. On the other hand, if your job falls under NOC TEER 0 or 1, you will require CLB 7 or NCLC 7.

CEC for CELPIP General Test

NOC TEER	CLB Level	Speaking	Listening	Reading	Writing
0 and 1	9 and above	9+	9+	9+	9+
0 and 1	8	8	8	8	8
0 and 1	7	7	7	7	7
2 and 3	6	6	6	6	6
2 and 3	5	5	5	5	5

CEC for IELTS Test

NOC TEER	CLB Level	Speaking	Listening	Reading	Writing
0 and 1	10 and above	7.5-9.0	8.5-9.0	8.0-9.0	7.5-9.0
0 and 1	9	7.0	8.0	7.0	7.0
0 and 1	8	6.5	7.5	6.5	6.5
0 and 1	7	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
2 and 3	6	5.5	5.5	5.0	5.5
2 and 3	5	5.0	5.0	4.0	5.0

CEC for PTE Core Test

NOC TEER	CLB Level	Speaking	Listening	Reading	Writing
0 and 1	10 and above	89+	89+	88+	90+
0 and 1	9	84-88	82-88	78-87	88-89
0 and 1	8	76-83	71-81	69-77	79-87
0 and 1	7	68-75	60-70	60-68	69-78
2 and 3	6	59-67	50-59	51-59	60-68
2 and 3	5	51-58	39-49	42-50	51-59

CEC for TEF Canada Test

NOC TEER	NCLC Level	Speaking	Listening	Reading	Writing
0 and 1	9 and above	371+	298+	248+	371+
0 and 1	8	349-370	280-297	233-247	349-370
0 and 1	7	310-348	249-279	207-232	310-348
2 and 3	6	271-309	217-248	181-206	271-309
2 and 3	5	226-270	181-216	151-180	226-270

CEC for TCF Canada Test

NOC TEER	NCLC Level	Speaking	Listening	Reading	Writing
0 and 1	10 and above	16-20	549-699	549-699	16-20
0 and 1	9	14-15	523-548	524-548	14-15
0 and 1	8	12-13	503-522	499-523	12-13
0 and 1	7	10-11	458-502	453-498	10-11
2 and 3	6	7-9	398-457	406-452	7-9
2 and 3	5	6	369-397	375-405	6

Residence in Canada

You need to plan to live and work outside of the province of Quebec. You are eligible to apply if you have studied in Quebec or your work experience is from Quebec. What is important is that you should show that going forward, it is your intention to live and work outside Quebec. Another key thing is to remember that you should meet Canada’s fundamental admissibility criteria, like no criminal records and satisfactory medical conditions.

CEC Immigration Process

If you are an international student who wants to apply for PR through the CEC program, the first step is to complete your educational program at a Canadian Designated Learning Institution (DLI). Next, you should apply for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) with the Canadian immigration authorities. Once your PGWP is approved, you need to hustle and get a job in a NOC TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 category and obtain your 1,560 hours of Canadian work experience. In addition, take an English or French language approved test designated by IRCC and obtain the minimum language proficiency requirements. After you are done with these, apply to Express Entry under the CEC program.

The same process is applicable to temporary foreign workers in Canada. You just need to get a temporary work permit instead of a PGWP and get 1,560 hours of your Canadian work experience.

Required Documentation

To apply under the CEC program, you may need to provide the following documents:

• Civil documents

• Identity and travel documents

• Proof of Canadian status

• Proof of Canadian tax documents

• Proof of language proficiency

• Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report

• Post-secondary certificates and transcripts

• Work experience reference letters

• Proof of funds

• Proof of relative in Canada

• Proof of job offer

• Police clearances

• Medical certificates

Application Fees

When applying under the CEC program, applicants will need to pay government processing fees. On applying, applicants must pay a processing fee of CAD $950 for the main applicant and a Right of Permanent Residence Fee (RPRF) of CAD $575, bringing the total to a CAD $1525. If your spouse or common-law partner is included in your application, an additional CAD $1525 will need to be paid. In addition, you will need to pay fees of CAD $260 for each dependent child listed in the application.

CEC Draws in 2024

IRCC has held four CEC draws in 2024 where a total of 14,800 candidates have been invited for permanent residence. The latest draw was held just two days back on August 14, 2024 where 3200 ITAs were issued with a CRS cutoff score of 509. Before that, the CEC only draw was held on July 31, 2024 where 5000 CEC candidates were invited. The CRS cutoff score for this draw was 510. Two weeks before that, 3600 candidates were invited under CEC with a CRS cutoff score of 515. The first CEC draw of 2024 was held on May 31, 2024 where 3000 applicants secured an ITA with a CRS cutoff score of 522.

Draw #	Date of Draw	Number of ITAs Issued	CRS Cutoff Score
309	August 14, 2024	3200	509
307	July 31, 2024	5000	510
304	July 17, 2024	3600	515
297	May 31, 2024	3000	522

Now, what is interesting about the above table is the consistent CRS cutoff scores that have stabilized around 510-515 range. These CRS cutoff scores are quite low as compared to the CRS cutoff scores for PNPs, which was 690 for the latest PNP draw that was held just one day before the latest CEC draw. Another thing to note is that CEC has consistently shown relatively large draws, compared to the PNP draws, as shown below

Most recent CEC draws:

• August 14, 2024: 3200 invitations

• July 31, 2024: 5,000 invitations

• July 17, 2024: 6,300 invitations

• May 31, 2024: 3,000 invitations

Most recent PNP draws:

• August 13, 2024: 763 invitations

• July 30, 2024: 964 invitations

• July 16, 2024: 1,391 invitations

• July 2, 2024: 920 invitations.

All this data supports the fact that the Canadian government has plans to focus on the temporary residents inside Canada as a key contender for PR going forward. The consistent draw numbers and decreasing CRS cutoff scores have bought hope to many Express Entry candidates who are temporarily in Canada but are not eligible for any of Canada’s other immigration programs.

Despite having a low CRS cutoff score, it has been noticed that there are many qualified CEC candidates who never get an ITA for PR. One common reason why this happens is because these applicants do not provide proof of their education levels. While applicants applying under FSWP are required to prove their education, CEC applicants do not have to provide this. In this case, they may be leaving up to total of 250 CRS points behind — up to 150 points for the education level itself, in addition to up to 100 points in combination with Canadian skilled work experience and/or language proficiency skills. If you have studied outside Canada, you should submit your ECA report from an approved organization to maximize your CRS points and bettering the odds of you getting a PR opportunity. 

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Disclaimer:

The content available on this page is for informational purpose only. For professional advice, please book an appointment with our licensed immigration consultants through our website.

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