Looking for a retirement visa? Canada doesn't offer one — its immigration routes are all built around work experience and points. See other countries' guides
Working in Canada: do you qualify?
A points-based system that rewards skilled work experience, with a clear route to permanent residence.
When rules change mid-way, the date your application is filed is what often decides which rules apply to you. Where are you right now?
Two ways in, and Canada checks them differently
An employer, a government nomination or an approved body puts its name behind the application.
- Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
You qualify on your own record — skills, points or capital — with no sponsor standing behind you.
- Express Entry - Canadian Experience Class
- Express Entry - Federal Skilled Trades ProgramCA$15,263
- Express Entry - Federal Skilled Worker ProgramCA$15,263 – CA$40,392
The conditions behind the routes above
Your degree, work experience or occupation has to clear a bar set for that specific route.
Pick a route, see the real commitment
Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against Canada's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.
Relationship qualification -- one of the three must be met: legal marriage (spouse); 12 months' continuous cohabitation in a conjugal relationship (common-law partner); or, only where cohabitation was not possible and the partner resides outside Canada, 12 months in a conjugal relationship (conjugal partner). Excludes bad-faith or non-genuine relationships, parties under 18, existing marriages to another person, and non-physically-present ("proxy") marriages outside the Canadian Forces exception. IRPR s. 1(1), ss. 4, 4.1, 5.
For people who already have recent skilled work experience inside Canada, often gained on a study or work permit.
For certified tradespeople with qualifying experience in a skilled trade, assessed separately from office-based occupations.
The general route for skilled workers with experience gained outside Canada.
A province nominates the candidate based on its own labour needs, which can significantly improve ranking in the pool.
What each route costs, stage by stage
Added up from the official figures on file for each route — split into money spent for good, money locked and returned later, and money shown but never transferred. Not a modelled estimate.
Canada Spousal / Common-Law Partner Sponsorship for Permanent Residence▾
At application
Decision — reported: 1 year, 6 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: CA$1,345, paid to the government for the initial application.
Express Entry - Canadian Experience Class▾
At application
Decision — reported: 6 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: CA$1,675, paid to the government for the initial application.
Express Entry - Federal Skilled Trades Program▾
At application
Decision — reported: 6 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: CA$1,675, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves youCA$15,263 shown as proof of means — nothing is transferred.
Express Entry - Federal Skilled Worker Program▾
At application
Decision — reported: 6 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: CA$1,590 – CA$1,675, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves youCA$15,263 shown as proof of means — nothing is transferred.
7 ways to qualify — shown: the cheapest. Alternatives: CA$15,263 (shown) / CA$19,001 / CA$23,360 / CA$28,362 / CA$32,168 / CA$36,280 / CA$40,392.
Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 7 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: CA$1,675, paid to the government for the initial application.
The order Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) follows
- 2026-02-18Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada revised its list of Express Entry priority categories for the year, adding categories for physicians, senior managers and transport-sector workers with Canadian experience, retiring the agriculture and agri-food category, and raising the minimum qualifying work experience for these targeted categories. source
Strategy Path takes your occupation, your situation and whether you have an employer, and lays the route out step by step — cost, milestone and wait on each leg.
Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Canada's official programme actually requires, and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentVerify them on the official register before you sign anything. Registration confirms a licence — it does not by itself guarantee good advice, so check the document you were given either way.
- College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants — public register — Search the consultant's name or licence number and confirm their status is active — only licensed consultants and lawyers may charge for Canadian immigration advice.
Every official figure on this page is checked against Canada's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
Get your country matches