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🇨🇦 Immigration guide

Canada Immigration from Pakistan: Express Entry, PNP and PR

Canadian PR from Pakistan: how Express Entry and provincial nominations work, who is being invited now, the documents, timelines and the traps.

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Last checked against official sources on 25 September 2026

QUICK ANSWER

How much does Canadian permanent residence cost from Pakistan?

Permanent residence through Express Entry or a Provincial Nominee Program costs CA$1,590 for the principal applicant, including the CA$600 right of permanent residence fee, and family members pay their own fees. You apply once you are invited through Express Entry or nominated by a province, and IRCC publishes the current processing time on its processing-times tool.

Checked on the official sites on 13 October 2026. Fees and times change, so confirm them on the linked page before you pay. Visa centre charges and any consultant's fee are extra.

Application fees
CA$1,590
principal applicant, including the CA$600 right of permanent residence fee
IRCC ↗

At a glance

What you are applying for

Canada is one of the few countries where you can apply for permanent residence from Pakistan without a job offer, on a points system whose rules are published. Most skilled applicants go through Express Entry; many of the rest through a province's own nomination.

The honest picture is harder than the advertisements suggest. Almost every invitation now goes to people with Canadian work experience, provincial nominees, French speakers and a short list of targeted occupations. IRCC has not held a general round — the kind that used to reach skilled workers abroad — since April 2024. Plan around the routes that are actually open to you.

Most refusals come down to one of four

  1. Honest claims
  2. Detailed reference letters
  3. Funds that are yours
  4. Every family member declared
Toronto skyline
Canada · Immigration
Main route from Pakistan
Express Entry, through the Federal Skilled Worker Program
Selection
Ranked by CRS points; each round invites from the top of the pool
Job offer
No longer worth CRS points, since March 2025
After an invitation
60 days to submit a complete application
Processing
IRCC's standard is six months for most complete applications

Is this the right guide?

Who it is for

Applying on the wrong visa is one of the quickest ways to a refusal, so read both lists before anything else.

You’re in the right place if you are

  • A skilled professional with a year's experience

    Skilled professionals with at least a year of continuous skilled work, strong English and, usually, a degree — the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

  • In a targeted occupation

    Healthcare workers, tradespeople and transport workers, whose occupations Canada is currently targeting with their own rounds.

  • A French speaker

    French speakers, who are invited in separate rounds at noticeably lower scores.

  • A graduate already in Canada

    Graduates already in Canada on a post-graduation work permit, who qualify through the Canadian Experience Class.

  • Applying to a province's stream

    Anyone applying to a province's own skilled-worker stream.

Wrong visa — take this route instead

Document checklist

Documents you will need

The base list for this visa. Your own checklist is built around your case — a salaried applicant and a business owner do not submit the same file.

0 / 10ready in your file

Tick as you gather — saved on this device.

Get my checklist on WhatsApp

To create your Express Entry profile

After an invitation

Step by step · with timings

How to apply, and how long it takes

In the order it happens. Each stage waits on the one before it, so the date you start decides the date you finish. Ranges, not promises — the mission owns the clock.

  1. First

    Check which program you qualify for

    The Federal Skilled Worker Program needs at least one year of continuous skilled work in the last ten years, language results and education, and it has its own 67-point pass mark before the CRS ranking even starts. The Canadian Experience Class is for people with Canadian work experience.

  2. 2–6 weeks

    Take the right language test

    Language is the factor most applicants can still move. Book IELTS General Training or PTE Core — not the Academic versions — and treat a retake as part of the plan rather than a failure.

  3. 1–4 months

    Get your degree assessed

    An Educational Credential Assessment tells IRCC what your Pakistani degree is worth in Canadian terms. It is often lower than people expect, and it can take months, because the documents usually have to come directly from your university.

  4. Up to 12 months

    Create your Express Entry profile

    The profile is free, stays in the pool for up to twelve months and gets a CRS score. Check that score on IRCC's own tool rather than an agent's calculator.

  5. Weeks to never

    Look beyond the general pool

    Most invitations now come through category-based and provincial rounds. Check whether your occupation is in a current category, and apply to provincial streams that select from Express Entry. A nomination adds 600 points.

  6. 60 days

    Answer an invitation within 60 days

    An invitation gives you 60 days to submit the complete application, with every document and fee. Reference letters and police certificates take longest, so start them before the invitation arrives.

  7. 6-month standard

    Biometrics, medical and the decision

    IRCC asks for biometrics and a medical, then decides. Approval brings a Confirmation of Permanent Residence and a visa in your passport, and you must land in Canada before it expires.

Rather have it handled?Permanent residency and skilled migration pathways.Our Immigration & PR service

Money

What it costs

The official figures are in the quick answer at the top, as checked on 13 October 2026. They change without notice, so each line here says what a cost depends on and where the current figure is published.

  • Paid with the application

    Processing and PR fees

    IRCC charges a processing fee and a right of permanent residence fee for each adult, plus biometrics. The current amounts are on IRCC's fee list.

    FIGUREIRCC
  • Shown, not paid

    Proof of funds

    Proof of funds is not a fee, but the money must be yours, not borrowed, and available. IRCC updates the required amounts every year, by family size.

    FIGUREIRCC
  • Paid to third parties

    Tests, assessments and certificates

    The language test, credential assessment, medical and police certificates are each paid to the organisation that provides them.

    FIGUREEach provider
  • If you pay an adviser

    Licensed representatives only

    If you pay someone to represent you, they must be a licensed Canadian immigration consultant or a lawyer. IRCC may return or refuse an application from an unauthorised paid representative, in Canada or abroad.

Where the current rules and figures are published

LAST CHECKED 25 SEP 2026

This is general guidance. Rules change, sometimes without notice, and your case will have specifics this page cannot know about. Check anything decisive on the official pages, or send us your situation and we will tell you where you actually stand.

Read before you apply

Why Canada immigration applications are refused

The grounds that come up most on files from Pakistan. Most of them can be dealt with before you submit.

  • Misrepresentation

    Misrepresentation — an inflated job title, a manufactured experience letter, an undeclared refusal. It carries a five-year ban from applying.

  • Reference letters without duties

    Reference letters that do not show the duties of the occupation you claimed, or that leave out hours, salary or dates.

  • Borrowed or recent money

    Borrowed or recently deposited money offered as proof of funds.

  • Claims the documents do not support

    Claims the documents do not support: a language result that has expired, a credential assessed lower than you entered, experience that falls short of the years you claimed.

  • A family member left out

    Leaving out a spouse or child. A family member you do not declare can never be sponsored later.

  • Missing the 60-day deadline

    Missing the 60-day deadline, or submitting an incomplete application, which can be refused without the rest being assessed.

  • Already been refused?

    Send us the refusal letter before you do anything else. It states the grounds, and they decide whether applying again is worth it or would just cost you the fee a second time.

    Send the letter

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Straight answers

Canada immigration questions

What people ask us before they apply.

Ask us something else

Yes. The Federal Skilled Worker Program does not need one, and since March 2025 a job offer earns no CRS points anyway. Some provincial streams do require an offer, so check each one before you plan around it.

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