The Federal Skilled Workers draw occurred under the 2023 Express Entry. This is the second time that a program-specific draw has taken place.
Federal Skilled Workers draw
IRCC, under this draw, issued 3,300 invitations to apply with the least score of 489 under the Comprehensive Ranking System. Only candidates of the Federal Skilled Workers Program received ITAs during this draw. This draw is technically the fourth draw of 2023; the last interest was program-specific and was held on February 1. In this draw, only candidates with a provincial nomination received invitations.
Express Entry draws in 2023
Usually, Express Entry draws are held once in two weeks and mostly on Wednesdays. Express Entry first came out in 2015, and it was only in 2023 that the draws and their schedule distorted for the first time.
Also, the first draw of 2023 took place on January 11, long after the temporary pause. The November 23 draw was the last one of 2022, and after this, there was an unprecedented break in the Express Entry draws until January 11, 2023. IRCC justified this break due to some technical flaw in the NOC 2021 implementation process. The first draw of this year invited 5,500 candidates with a CRS score of 507. The draws also paused temporarily for 18 months between December 2020 and July 2022. However, the January 11 draw sent the maximum invitations since the draws resumed. Also, the CRS score was the lowest of all previous draws.
Surprisingly, yet another draw took place on January 18, and this draw also sent 5,500 invitations to candidates with a lower CRS score, of 490.
This draw occurred unexpectedly as IRCC usually does not send ITAs to candidates consecutively.
Express Entry draw for PNP candidates only
After June 2022, the first Express Entry PNP-specific draw took place on February 1, and it issued ITAs to only particular candidates with a provincial nomination. Even before the pandemic, program-specific draws appeared a bit unusual. However, the Federal Skilled Trades Program remained an exception, with all other draws being for all programs.
During the Covid-19 phase, all program draws had paused, and since then, the PNP-specific draws were not held until this year. Amidst this pause, Express Entry candidates continued to receive ITA’s if they had obtained a Provincial Nomination.
Candidates possessing Provincial Nomination will immediately acquire 600 additional points under the Comprehensive Ranking System.
Future Expectations- changes ahead
With the introduction of Bill C-19, Express Entry will likely undergo several changes. According to this law, the immigration minister will have more authority to bring candidates to bridge labor force gaps. Moreover, IRCC will now be conducting draws based on targeted characteristics. Earlier, the department issued invitations based only on higher CRS scores. However, this is an older way to evaluate the candidate’s ITA eligibility.
Additionally, the department also held public consultations to discuss the new categories and how their attributes must appear. These unique characteristics would probably revolve around education, occupation, work experience, and language proficiency.
Federal Skilled Workers draw- Express Entry
The Federal Skilled Workers draw of the Express Entry all-program draw occurred recently, with 3,300 ITAs and 489 as the CRS score.
Express Entry is an entirely digital application system offering three primary Canadian immigration programs, including the FSWP, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and the Canadian Experience Class.
Candidates of the Provincial Nominee program who also exist in the Express Entry pool might become eligible for any program.
Additionally, Express Entry works on a point system under the Comprehensive Ranking System, which ranks candidates against one another. However, only those with higher scores have the opportunity to get an ITA for Permanent Residence. Once the candidate applies for PR, their application gets reviewed by an immigration officer. After the application approval, the candidate can acquire permanent residence and plan for Canadian citizenship.