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The route most people from Pakistan take, the mistake to avoid, and the facts that change because you are applying from Pakistan, each read from the official page it links.
Family ties bring many Pakistani citizens to Canada as permanent residents. IRCC, Canada's immigration department, lists Pakistan among the top countries of citizenship for family reunification in 2024, in its 2025 Annual Report to Parliament, and in its admissions data, sponsorship by a spouse or partner in Canada was the largest single category for Pakistanis in each year from 2023 to 2025. Skilled workers usually come through a province's nomination, in which a province selects people its economy needs, or through Express Entry, the federal online system that scores skilled workers and invites the highest scorers to apply; IRCC's Express Entry Year-End Report 2024 places Pakistan among the most common countries of citizenship for those invitations.
Start with your degree: for Canada's credential assessment, a report on a foreign degree's Canadian equivalent, WES, one of the assessors IRCC designates, asks for mark sheets and degree certificates attested by Pakistan's Higher Education Commission (HEC), and rejects an attestation HEC has not confirmed on its website. HEC's attestation system runs fully online: it checks your details with NADRA, the national registration authority, has your university verify the documents, and will not begin unless the personal details on your CNIC, the national identity card, match your educational documents. Book the language test meanwhile. The police certificate comes later, from the police of the province, or of Islamabad, where you lived; in Punjab, IRCC notes, any Police Khidmat Markaz service centre accepts the application, whichever district it is for.
The mistake to avoid is relying on a two-year BA, BSc, MA or MSc begun after HEC's deadlines for phasing those programmes out. HEC warns that some institutions kept admitting students after the deadlines and that such degrees will not be recognized or attested, while WES asks for HEC-attested documents. Before enrolling in a programme with Canada in mind, or building a plan on a degree you hold, check that HEC will attest it.
Express Entry asks a single applicant to show CAD 15,263 in settlement funds, about PKR 2,968,894 at the latest cached exchange rate; larger families need more.
A qualification from Pakistan is assessed for Canada by one of these organisations: World Education Services (WES), International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS), International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS), International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES) and Comparative Education Service (CES).
A Police Character Certificate (also called a Police Clearance Certificate) from the police of your province or of Islamabad, each with its own process. From abroad, apply through a Pakistani embassy or consulate; in some cases a relative in Pakistan can apply for you.
Canada has no youth mobility agreement with Pakistan today, so citizens of Pakistan can join International Experience Canada only through a recognized organization that accepts them.
Tests Canada accepts with centres in Pakistan include IELTS General Training, CELPIP-General, PTE Core, TEF Canada and TCF Canada.
In the 2021 census, 71% of immigrants born in Pakistan lived in Ontario, more than in any other province or territory.
Ontario is also where they are most concentrated compared with other immigrants.
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