I am a 33 year old civil engineer with a master's degree and eight years of experience. My IELTS is 7.5 overall. The calculator gives me around 460 points. Is there any realistic path to an invitation from abroad, or do I need to get Canadian experience first?
When I was in Toronto, several colleagues got their invitations through provincial nominations rather than general draws. Set up your profile now, keep it updated and select interest in all provinces. Some provinces send notifications of interest directly to profiles in the pool.
At 460 it depends heavily on the draws in a given year. Your biggest lever is language: if you can reach CLB 9 in every ability (IELTS 7 in each band, 8 in listening), your skill transferability points increase. French is the other big one. Even intermediate French gives extra points and makes you eligible for French-language draws, which have had much lower cut-offs. Also look at provincial nominee streams that pick engineers from the pool.
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