There is no single permanent residence application. There are several routes with different eligibility rules, and one shared back end: admissibility, biometrics, a medical exam, and a landing. Picking the right route is most of the work. The rest is proving what you claimed.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $3,388.87 taxes included
Economic immigration is the largest. Express Entry manages the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class and the Canadian Experience Class. Provincial nominee programs run alongside it — in Ontario, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, which was rebuilt around a single Ontario Workforce Priority stream in 2026.
Family class is the second. A Canadian citizen or permanent resident sponsors a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner, a dependent child, or in some circumstances a parent, grandparent or other relative. Spousal sponsorship has no minimum income requirement; parent and grandparent sponsorship does.
Then there are the routes that exist for people who do not fit either: humanitarian and compassionate applications, protected person and refugee streams, and a shifting set of pilots and public policies. These are discretionary or narrow, and they are the ones where advice earns its keep — a badly chosen route wastes a year and a filing fee.
Admissibility is the common gate. Criminal history, security, misrepresentation, and health can all render an applicant inadmissible. Some grounds can be overcome with a rehabilitation application or an authorisation; some cannot. Disclose everything, including charges that were withdrawn and old refusals from any country. A finding of misrepresentation generally carries a five-year bar, and it is a far worse outcome than the thing that was concealed.
Then the mechanics: biometrics at $85 per person to a family maximum of $170, an immigration medical exam by a panel physician, police certificates from every country where you have lived, and a complete address and travel history.
Costs vary by route. A principal applicant under the Federal Skilled Worker or Canadian Experience Class pays $1,590 including the right of permanent residence fee. Sponsoring a spouse or partner from abroad costs $1,260 for the principal applicant, again including that fee. Our legal fee is $3,388.87, taxes included, whichever route you take.
Approval produces a confirmation of permanent residence, and you become a permanent resident when you land — either at a port of entry or through a virtual landing appointment. Your first PR card follows by mail, so IRCC needs a correct Canadian address.
From that day, the residency obligation applies: 730 days of compliance in every five-year period under section 28 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Days accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse or parent abroad, and days in qualifying employment outside Canada for a Canadian business, can count toward it.
Citizenship is the usual endpoint. It generally requires 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada in the five years immediately before applying, plus tax filing, language and knowledge requirements depending on your age. Keep your travel records from day one — you will need them twice, once for the PR card and once for citizenship.
For someone already working in Canada in a skilled job, the Canadian Experience Class through Express Entry is usually the shortest path, because the experience is already earned and the documents are Canadian. For someone with a Canadian spouse, spousal sponsorship is generally faster and simpler than any economic route, and it does not depend on a score. Speed is the wrong first question though — eligibility is. The fastest route you do not qualify for takes forever.
Often yes. Being in the Express Entry pool while pursuing a provincial nomination is normal and sensible. Having a spousal sponsorship in progress while holding a work permit is normal. What you cannot do is tell two different applications two different stories — IRCC sees them all, and inconsistency between files is a common source of misrepresentation findings.
Yes, always, including charges that were withdrawn, discharges, and convictions from decades ago in other countries. Concealment is treated far more seriously than the underlying offence, and IRCC does check. Many older or minor matters can be resolved through deemed rehabilitation, a rehabilitation application, or a record suspension. Get advice before you file, not after a refusal.
$3,388.87, taxes included, published on this page rather than quoted after a meeting. It covers assessing which routes you actually qualify for, choosing among them, preparing and filing the application with the supporting evidence, responding to IRCC's requests, and seeing the file to a decision. Government fees — $1,590 for an Express Entry principal applicant, $1,260 for a sponsored spouse, $85 for biometrics — go to IRCC and are separate.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.