How U.S. Citizens Can Move to Canada (Residency & Citizenship Explained)
Everything Americans Need To Know To Live And Work In Canada.
Moving to Canada sounds simple until you see the immigration website.
Then you see
Express Entry
PNPs
LMIA
CRS scores
...and a dozen pathways you didn’t know existed.
What seemed simple gets complicated.
But here’s the thing:
Thousands of Americans do this every year. You just need to understand how the system actually works.
Canada’s immigration process is structured, point-based, and surprisingly misunderstood.
Many think close means easy.
It does not.
But here is the good news. All you need is a pathway, documentation, and a clear plan.
This is what I will give you today.
What we’ll talk about:
The four pathways Americans actually use (and which one fits you)
Real timelines, real costs, and the mistakes that get people rejected
How to know where you stand, and how to improve your score if you need to
Let’s break it down.
Important Resources
If you’re planning to move to Canada, these tools will save you time and confusion.
IRCC Official Website. The source of truth for all visa types, application forms, and processing times.
Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Calculator. Shows you exactly how many points you’d score in Express Entry. Check this before you do anything else.
Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) Directory. Each province has different criteria and timelines. Some are easier than others.
CanadaVisa Forum. Real applicants sharing timelines, mistakes, and updates. Useful for seeing what’s actually happening beyond official processing times.
Settlement.org. Free guides on finding housing, opening bank accounts, and understanding healthcare once you land. From what I have seen, those are quite practical.
Key Terms to Know Up Front
Before we go deeper, let’s clear up a few terms you’ll see everywhere.
IRCC. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The federal agency that processes all applications.
CRS. Comprehensive Ranking System. The point system used in Express Entry (out of 1,200 points).
PR. Permanent Residency. Legal status that lets you live and work in Canada indefinitely.
ITA. Invitation to Apply. You need this before you can submit a full PR application through Express Entry.
PNP. Provincial Nominee Program. Province-specific immigration streams that can boost your CRS score by 600 points.
LMIA. Labour Market Impact Assessment. A document proving no Canadian could fill your job (required for most employer-sponsored work permits).
ECA. Educational Credential Assessment. Converts your U.S. degree into Canadian equivalency.
CEC. Canadian Experience Class. An Express Entry stream for people who’ve already worked in Canada.
NOC. National Occupational Classification. Canada’s system for categorizing jobs.
TEER. Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities. A classification system (0-5) where 0-3 are considered “skilled” work that counts toward PR.
Save these somewhere. They show up in every pathway.
Now let’s look at the actual pathways.
#1 Express Entry (The Main Federal Route)
Express Entry is a selection system.
You build a profile, get a score, and wait for an invitation. The higher your score, the faster you get in.
There are three programs under Express Entry:
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). This is for or people with work experience in skilled jobs. You don’t need Canadian experience. This is the most common route for Americans.
Canadian Experience Class (CEC). This is for people who’ve already worked in Canada (at least one year of skilled work). If you’ve been on a work permit, this is your path.
Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). If you are an electrician, plumber, welder, or from other trades. You need a job offer or a certificate of qualification from a Canadian province.
Americans can apply through any of these three programs depending on their specific situation.
How the CRS Points Work
Canada uses a points system to rank Express Entry candidates.
You get scored on factors like age, education, work experience, and language skills.
The higher your score, the better your chances of receiving an invitation. The maximum possible score is 1,200 points.
Your score is built from four main categories:
Core factors (max 600 points). Age, education, language ability (English or French), and work experience.
Spouse or partner factors (max 40 points). If your spouse has education, language skills, or work experience, you can claim extra points.
Skill transferability (max 100 points). Combinations like education plus work experience, or foreign work plus Canadian work, can boost your score.
Additional factors (max 600 points). This is where things get interesting. A provincial nomination adds 600 points. A job offer (with LMIA) adds 50 to 200 points. A sibling in Canada adds 15 points. French language ability adds up to 50 points.
Every few weeks, IRCC holds draws and invites candidates above a certain score threshold.
The type of draw determines the cutoff. Canada hasn’t held general draws (open to all three programs) since April 2024, when the cutoff was 529.
Since then, draws have been program-specific or category-based only.
As of October 2025, CEC draws require around 534 points. Category-based draws target specific groups like healthcare workers, STEM professionals, or French speakers, and these have varied cutoffs.
French language proficiency draws have ranged from 379 to 446 points in 2025, while healthcare and trade draws typically sit between 470 and 505 points.
The shift away from general draws means you need to qualify for a specific category or program.
For a complete breakdown of every Express Entry draw since 2015, check this draw history tracker.
Now you might ask, when is the next draw?
You can find this info here.
Now, let’s do a practical example.
Sarah, 32, Marketing Manager from Seattle
Sarah has a bachelor’s degree, six years of marketing experience, and strong English.
Her CRS score is 465. That’s not enough for a general draw. She applies to the BC PNP under the Skills Immigration stream because she has a job offer from a Vancouver-based company. BC nominates her, adding 600 points. Her new score is 1,065.
She receives an ITA in the next draw and submits her PR application.
Common Mistakes Americans Make with Express Entry
Here are some common mistakes that are being made.