Express Entry is the main immigration platform used by the federal government of Canada to bring skilled workers from all over the world to Canada as permanent residents. This is a federal program is managed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) which is responsible for selecting eligible candidates to be offered an Invitation to Apply (ITA).
The Express Entry program manages three immigration pathways; the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Skilled Traders Program. Candidates who apply for these programs are given a score using the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS Score is out of a total of 1200 points and only the highest scoring candidates are offered an ITA. Candidates that receive an ITA have 60 days to accept an invitation and submit an online application for permanent residency to the IRCC.
Once the draws are made, each invitation round comes with varying set of instructions that are posted online during the invitation time and are the ones used by the Express Entry System to invite candidates. These instructions mainly include the time and date of the invitation rounds, how many candidates got an ITA and the immigration programs included in the round.
The last round (draw #238) was on January 18th 2023. The draw offered:
- 5,500 ITA
- 490 cut off score (CRS)
- All Programs
- A cut-off based on the date and time application was used if there was more than one applicant with the lowest score.
This is the second Express Entry draw of January 2023. Canada is inviting thousands of immigrants to apply for Permanent Residency every month. The next express entry draw #239 is expected to occur tomorrow, January 25th, 2023.)
However, following the recent consultations held by the IRCC, the public, and stakeholders, a conclusive decision was made to better the application management system to meet Canadian’s labor shortages and economic needs. This will be executed by bringing in new categories that target key attributes like work experience, language proficiency, labor market shortages, or education credentials rather than solely relying on a high score with the CRS. Additionally, IRCC stated that it is considering inviting Express Entry candidates based on the set key attributes.
The results of the consultations have not yet been published considering that the consultations ended on January 8th, 2023. However, IRCC stated that targeted draws are set to begin in 2023 spring. The categories will be announced immediately after they are decided on by the Minister before invitations are issued.
Some of the possible categories will include:
Work experience in selected occupations and sectors
Since Express Entry is mainly used to bring skilled workers into the Canadian labor economy, the IRCC is considering including a category that mainly includes work experience in particular occupations. These occupations will mainly be geared toward those that are experiencing chronic labor shortages. To make sure all areas are targeted the IRCC asked the respondents to highlight areas experiencing shortages in the Canadian labor market as part of the consultations. Also, the respondents were asked to provide suggestions on how immigration can be used to complement the existing workforce and the labor market in Canada.
International graduates to permanent residence transitions
Looking at it on the brighter side, international students are well placed for permanent economic immigration since they have already met the several requirements of express entry. This includes proficiency in one of the official languages either French or English; acquired Canadian education qualifications and similar work experience; they are in their prime and core working ages and are therefore in a better position to contribute to the country’s economy for more years.
Therefore, IRCC states that a potential category in the Express Entry focusing on international student graduates will help to directly solve the critical shortages in the labor market. Despite there being an approximate increase of 80% in transitioning international students to permanent residency over the past three years, the procedure can be time-consuming and difficult for them to complete. Having a category that specifically, targets these students will help address this.
Temporary foreign workers transitioning to permanent residency
Similar to the International student graduates, the IRCC is considering introducing a new category that will enable temporary workers in Canada to transition to permanent residents via Express Entry. This was addressed in the consultations where the respondents raised that the current pathways in permanent residency are not inclusive of the temporary foreign workers who are more than capable to address Canada’s labor work market needs in the long run.
In fact, workers with previous Canadian work experience are found to be in a better position to fit into the labor market and find it easier to transfer their skills where necessary.
Francophone and bilingual candidates
Despite being a bilingual country, Canada most population is made up of English speakers apart from the province of Quebec. To address this, the IRCC is also considering inviting candidates who have proven proficiency in French.
Over the past years, Canada has been trying to address this and in 2019, they launched the Francophone immigration strategy which targeted 4.4% of the new immigrants living outside Quebec to be French-speaking by the end of this year.
This has however not been effective enough as of the 110,000 economic-class Francophone immigrants who settled in Canada only 30,000 chose to live outside the province of Quebec. This category will help strengthen the country’s bilingual nature and also, in turn, fill in gaps in the French-speaking labor markets.
Are the Canadian Express Entry Categories necessary?
The changes in the Express Entry program are in response to the Canadian labor market shortage which can be attributed to the aging population and lowest birth rates in the world at 1.40 births per woman. The aging population is affecting Canada’s ratio of working-age people to seniors which in turn contributes to a long-term decline in the labor force and population rate. Similarly, an increase in the aging population consequently leads to increase demand for social services.
Due to this, the government of Canada requires immigrants who can contribute directly to the social systems and fill in for the chronic shortages being experienced. Failure to do this, the country will experience serious difficulties in supporting its population and a decreased economy. Not only that the changes and critical labor shortages also gear towards skill gaps that are evidenced by the numerous vacancies in these sectors like construction, healthcare, scientific and technical services.
Conclusion
These new changes do not mean that the IRCC will no longer use the CRS scores for the Express Entry invitations. Those who meet the set pass mark in particular categories will still be invited to apply. The category-based selection will only be based on those who qualify for particular programs that will be managed under the Express Entry.
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