The Express Entry system is currently facing some technical issues due to the execution of the NOC 2021. IRCC confirmed the IT issues and revealed that Express Entry candidates under the Provincial Nominee Program faced problems.
The department even stated that it was working toward resolving these technical glitches. However, it still needs to provide a clear timeframe to resolve the issues. IRCC will provide the latest updates to candidates shortly.
Express Entry draws- ITA s sent to the wrong candidates
According to IRCC, the system has been informing candidates to fulfill the Minimum Eligibility Criteria under the Canadian Experience Class despite lacking proper Canadian work experience.
Due to this glitch, several ineligible candidates, even those under PNP, received the ITAs. This happened during the invitation rounds on November 23, 2022.
Moreover, the technical issues in the system also affected the PNP candidates who were trying to update their Express Entry profiles to reflect the NOC 2021 changes.
93888 is a synthetic code deeming specific Express Entry profiles to be ineligible to receive ITAs. Recently, IRCC produced this synthetic code to make sure that the candidates undergo the evaluation based on NOC 2016.
The missing Express Entry draw
Surprisingly, it is still unknown whether this glitch occurred due to the Express Entry draw that didn’t take place on December 7.
Express Entry draws for all the programs resumed on July 6 this year, after a long haul of 18 months in December 2020. After the resumption, IRCC was seen inviting candidates once in two weeks, on Wednesdays.
Recently, several potential candidates switched to social media to share their opinions and frustration due to the missed Express Entry draw that was supposed to happen on December 7.
IRCCs mandatory instructions display that the draws under Express Entry must occur every two weeks. However, until now, the draws have been occurring regularly. Additionally, IRCC doesn’t define the frequency of such draws, and it also doesn’t restrict these draws to specific days. The department has full authority to conduct the draws at their convenience.
Since the draws resumed on July 6 this year, there have been 11 all-program draws. Recently, the draws took place on November 9 and November 23, inviting 4,750 candidates.
On July 6, 2022, 1500 candidates received the ITAs and demanded a CRS score of 557. The ITAs kept increasing with each draw, whereas the CRS score continued to decline. The most recent draw had a CRS score of 491, and it took place on November 23.
NOC 2021
NOC 2016 recently shifted to NOC 2021 on November 16, 2022. According to NOC 2016, Express Entry candidates need to possess work experience based on NOC skills O, A, and B. Lately, IRCC transitioned to NOC 2021 TEER system- Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities.
The transition was an initiative to replace the old NOC system with a new one. The updated version of NOC will work with the following four objectives:
- Acquiring a deeper understanding of the Canadian labor market;
- Enhancing occupational forecasting;
- A proper analysis of national labor supply and demand; and
- Providing equal opportunities to Canadians and foreign nationals with increased skill development and targeted or specialized job training.
Candidates who already had their profiles created under the Express Entry pool received an invitation to shift from NOC 2016 to NOC 2021. However, this update needs to be done for each job position of the IRCCs profile. Candidates who fail to update their profiles according to the latest NOC will not receive an ITA.
