I am currently in H1B visa and interested to move to Canada. I just attempted to calculate my CRS score in the official tool.
My age is 30
My spouse & I have bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering.
My spouse & I are planning to take the IELTs exam in a month or so.
I am a Web Application Developer with 7 years of IT experience.
We don’t qualify for any other requirements such as a degree or work experience in Canada.
I gave myself a CLB level 10 in the CRS tool for projection purposes and the score was 438. As I understand this score may not be sufficient to receive an ITA if we score less in IELTs.
What are the backup options available to improve my score?
You could try to secure a job in Canada as the work permit timeline has reduced to 2 weeks currently and more over you have 7 years of IT experience. This gives you +50 points and you will stand a great chance at getting invited.
None the less, 438 is still a good score. Few draws that happened in August/September had a cut-off less than 440.
So, I would still go ahead and try to apply with 438 and see where I stand and in the meantime look for jobs in Canada.
I agree with everything KK said there its quite possible you would be chosen in a future draw your projected score is pretty solid. The IELTS scores are important so those could maybe take you over 440.
Additionally if you wanted to persue the “get a job first” route there are a few options.