Ontario invites 307 French-speaking Express Entry candidates

Ontario issued invitations to bilingual Express Entry candidates on April 30.

The selected candidates may be eligible to immigrate to Canada through Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker (FSSW) stream.

This is the largest FSSW draw of the year so far, with 307 Notifications of Interest (NOIs). The first draw of its kind this year, held on January 9, invited 242 bilingual candidates to apply for a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence.

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These invited candidates will be contacted by the program. They have 45 days to apply online for their provincial nomination.

Since the people invited in today’s draw have profiles in the federal Express Entry system, receiving the provincial nomination from Ontario would give them an additional 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points towards their overall score.

This award would effectively guarantee that they would be given an Invitation to Apply for Canadian permanent residence in a subsequent federal Express Entry draw.

Express Entry is an application management system for three federal immigration programs: Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class.

Candidates are ranked on human capital factors that the government has determined would help them thrive in the Canadian labour market such as age, work experience, education, and English or French language proficiency.

For the FSSW, candidates need to meet the eligibility requirements of the Canadian Experience Class, or the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and have a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of at least seven in French and six in English among other requirements.

This is Ontario’s second Express Entry-linked draw in two days. The draw on April 29 targeted candidates in 14 skills trades occupations.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs