According to the Immigration Minister of Canada, Sean Fraser, the federal department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are still working on the evaluation and development of the 2022 Express Entry strategy.
The Express Entry system is the major immigration pathway to Canada, which targets the economic class immigrants. Candidates that fulfill the eligibility criteria for any of the federal immigration programs, including the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP), and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), are required to complete an Express Entry profile online. After the submission of the Express Entry profile, the candidates are provided with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score depending upon multiple human capital factors, like age, education, work experience, language ability, and others. The department of IRCC conducts Express Entry usually draws every two weeks, and then the department issues invitations to the candidates with maximum CRS scores to apply for permanent resident status in Canada. Before the pandemic, the maximum number of ITAs for permanent residence were issued to the FSWP candidates.
On the other hand, during the pandemic, the majority of the Express Entry invitations were issued to the CEC candidates. However, in an attempt to reduce the applications backlog, the IRCC has been conducting Express Entry draws for Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates since September last year. In addition, IRCC is continuously conducting its biweekly Express Entry draws, and the most recent was held on January 19, 2022.
IRCC is still weighing its Express Entry alternatives, but there are no intentions to cancel applications, according to Fraser.
Fraser: IRCC is still analyzing Express Entry alternatives; there are no intentions to cancel applications
Recently, an internal IRCC briefing letter issued on November 24, 2021, was made public, and it has resulted in speculation and confusion about Canada’s Express Entry strategy for 2022. The memo also indicates the possibility of extension of the halt on Express Entry draws for FSWP, CEC, and FSTP candidates until the first half of this year in an effort to offer extra time to the IRCC to reduce the applications backlog. However, the memo has been censored extensively, due to which the majority of its context is ambiguous, leading to speculations among readers on how IRCC will manage Express Entry in the future. As of December 2021, there are 1.8 million candidates in line for immigration applications, with around 120,000 of them are under Express Entry.
On January 20, in a meeting with the Canadian Bar Association’s Immigration Section, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser put some of the speculations at ease. The Immigration Section of the CBA represents an association of Canadian immigration lawyers, and they meet with the federal government on a regular basis to identify ways to enhance the Canadian immigration system.
Minister Fraser said that the federal department of IRCC has not scheduled its next FSWP and CEC draws yet; however, the department is still evaluating the Express Entry options for 2022.
Furthermore, Minister Fraser stated to the CBA that the IRCC has no plan to cancel and already-submitted immigration applications for permanent residence to cut the backlogs. This statement came following speculation made on social media, as ten years ago, the government of Canada did something like this to cut its inventory.
Fraser also highlighted that IRCC is trying to stabilize and manage application processing so that they can remove backlogs and stated that in order to help IRCC to achieve their goal, the Canadian government has just put in an extra $85 million.
Occupation-specific drawings may be considered in future.
According to the CBA notes, Minister Fraser indicated that the federal department of IRCC is considering and looking into the potential of holding occupation-specific draws to address the workforce needs.
Furthermore, the Budget 2021 released by the Canadian government also implied this possibility, stating that the federal government wants to modify the Express Entry System to welcome those candidates in Canada who best match their labour market requirements.
Sending out invitations on the basis of occupational background would be the first of its kind for the Express Entry system, but the occupation-focus Express Entry draws will also utilize a long-standing method used by the federal department of IRCC and Canadian territories and provinces for decades.
To be considered eligible for the FSWP in the past, the candidates were required to meet employment eligibility in an in-demand occupation under the National Occupational Classification (NOC). However, currently, multiple federal and provincial immigration pathways require candidates to fall under an eligible NOC.
The Express Entry system was introduced in 2015, and since then, the Express Entry has been managing immigration applications received under CEC, FSWP, and FSTP on the basis of candidates’ CRS scores and during the pandemic the IRCC is also considering the program of eligibility. Before the pandemic, the immigration department issued invitations to those candidates who scored the highest CRS scores without taking their program of eligibility into consideration. This strategy was justified given the explanation that candidates with the highest CRS are more likely to integrate into the Canadian labour market.
The last all-program draw was held by the IRCC in December 2020. From January to September last year, the Express Entry invitations were issued to eligible CEC and PNP candidates by the IRCC. The reason for shifting focus to CEC candidates is that they are more likely to be applying from within Canada, and therefore, no travel restrictions or public health measures will hamper their immigration and landing process. In addition, the purpose of inviting PNP candidates is to enable IRCC to offer required assistance to Canadian provinces and territories with the workforce requirements.
With the introduction of an occupation-focused approach in Express Entry draws, the IRCC will have another tool to efficiently eliminate labour shortages. Moreover, the Express Entry system offers an additional 50 to 200 points to candidates who apply with an arranged employment; however, it is not a mandatory requirement, as most of the candidates are able to obtain an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residency even without an offer of employment. In 2020, there were only 16% of candidates had a job offer among all who received ITAs.
