Move to Canada from India

How to move to Canada from India

When you move to Canada from India, you are following the most travelled path of any country. Express Entry rewards a strong combination of education, skilled experience, age and English, and many Indian applicants build that profile through a Canadian study program first.

Visiting and immigrating are different things, though: as an Indian passport holder you are visa-required even to visit, and a visitor visa never lets you settle or work. To live in Canada you need the right status: permanent residence to settle, or a work or study permit to come temporarily. The route that fits depends on your age, your occupation and your experience, and on whether you have a Canadian job offer or close family already in Canada.

It comes down to two outcomes. Permanent residence lets you live, work and settle anywhere in Canada with no end date and leads to citizenship, while temporary status on a work or study permit brings you for a fixed spell and is very often used as a stepping stone to PR. The sections below take each route in turn so you can see where you fit before you spend a rupee.

The main routes from India at a glance

Express Entry from India

Express Entry is the route most Indian applicants take, and the quickest federal road to PR for skilled workers. You build an online profile, it is ranked by the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), and the top-ranked candidates are invited at each draw. With India sending more candidates than any other country, a sharp, well-built profile matters here more than anywhere. Three federal programs sit inside Express Entry:

• Canadian Experience Class (CEC), for people who already have skilled Canadian work experience, for example after studying in Canada and working on a PGWP. This is often the fastest path for Indian graduates already in Canada.
• Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), the main route for skilled Indian workers applying from India with foreign experience.
• Federal Skilled Trades (FST), for qualified tradespeople such as electricians, welders and technicians.

Before you submit, you will need a WES (or equivalent) Educational Credential Assessment of your Indian degree and an approved English test, most Indian applicants sit IELTS General Training. Small differences in age, experience and test scores move your CRS more than people expect, and a provincial nomination adds a decisive 600 points. Your profile is also matched to a NOC code for your occupation, which sets your program eligibility.

The same code decides whether you qualify for IRCC's category-based draws, for example in healthcare, trades or French language, where the cut-off score is often lower than the general CRS cut-off. Use our free CRS calculator to see where you stand against the latest CRS cut-off, then we help you find the points you are leaving on the table.

The study permit to PGWP to PR route

For a great many Indian applicants, the surest path is to study in Canada first. A study permit at a designated learning institution lets you study in Canada, and after graduating you may qualify for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), an open permit that lets you work for almost any employer and build the skilled Canadian experience that feeds straight into the Canadian Experience Class.

You will need to show proof of funds for tuition and living costs, and a Provincial Attestation Letter where required. Program choice matters enormously here, because it shapes your PGWP eligibility, so we help you plan the whole sequence from the start.

Provincial Nominee Programs for Indian movers

If your CRS sits below the latest federal cut-off, a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)is often the way through, and with India's competition it is a route worth planning for from the start. A province nominates the workers it needs, and an enhanced nomination adds 600 CRS points, usually enough to put a profile well above typical Express Entry cut-offs before IRCC decides who is invited. A few provinces recur for Indian movers:

• Alberta (AAIP), drawing Indian families with lower taxes, a strong job market and active worker streams. Based in Canmore, Alberta is the province we know best.
• British Columbia (BC PNP), a magnet for Indian tech and healthcare talent who want the West Coast.
• Ontario (OINP), home to the largest Indian-Canadian community and the deepest job market, with streams drawn from the Express Entry pool.
• The Atlantic Immigration Program, an employer-driven route across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot for smaller communities.

Work permits and employer routes

With a Canadian job offer, secured or in progress, a work permit can bring you over and often bridges to PR. The form depends on the role and employer: an employer-specific permit backed by a Labour Market Impact Assessment, an intra-company transfer for staff of a multinational with a Canadian office (common for Indian IT professionals), or a bridging open work permit once your PR file is advanced. Many Indian professionals start on a work permit, gather Canadian experience, then move to PR through the Canadian Experience Class or a PNP.

Family sponsorship

If your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner already holds Canadian citizenship or PR, sponsorship through spousal sponsorship may be open to you. Sponsoring a partner normally carries no income test, and the sponsored spouse arrives as a permanent resident. Given how many Indian families already have relatives in Canada, the Parents and Grandparents Program and the Super Visa for long stays are also worth weighing. Our full family sponsorship guide sets out who can sponsor whom.

What is different when you move from India

• TRV and biometrics. Indian citizens are visa-required, so you need a Temporary Resident Visa and biometrics to enter; settling still requires PR and working requires a permit.
• WES ECA. Your Indian qualification is usually assessed through WES so it can be scored against Canadian standards.
• IELTS language test. An approved English test, commonly IELTS General Training, is needed to claim the language points.
• Proof of funds. Most Express Entry applicants outside the Canadian Experience Class must show settlement funds, with a clear paper trail.
• Police clearance certificate. A PCC covering India, and any other country you lived in long enough, is required; order it early as it can take time.
• Professional licensing. Regulated professions such as nursing, medicine, engineering and many trades often need Canadian provincial registration before you can practise.

How much it costs and how long it takes

Costs sit in two groups. Government charges cover IRCC processing, the right-of-permanent-residence fee and biometrics; third-party costs add your WES ECA, IELTS, the police clearance certificate, a medical exam and, for most Express Entry applicants, the settlement funds you must show. These amounts change periodically, so we itemise the current figures for your route rather than quote one headline, and government fees can be checked on canada.ca.

On timing, a complete Express Entry application is usually finished about six months after the invitation, while provincial nomination, the study-to-PR sequence and family sponsorship each add their own stages. Our fees guide explains our professional fee and how it differs from government fees.

How Wild Mountain helps you move from India

We do one thing: build the strongest, most complete Canadian immigration application for your situation, and represent you with IRCC from India through to your arrival. As a CICC-regulated practice led by a licensed RCIC, we assess your profile honestly, choose the route where you are most competitive, and manage the paperwork, the WES ECA, the police clearance and the provincial steps so you do not have to decode it alone. Whether you aim for Canada PR through Express Entry or the study to PR path, we map the way you move to Canada from India, from the first call to your landing.

1. 01

   Assess your profile

   We review your education, experience, age and English to find the route where you are strongest, whether that is Express Entry, the study to PR path or a PNP.

2. 02

   Plan and prepare

   We map the pathway, the WES ECA, IELTS, proof of funds, the police certificate and your Express Entry or AAIP strategy, with clear, written fees.

3. 03

   Apply and land

   We build a complete application and represent you with IRCC from India through to your arrival, keeping you updated at every milestone.