Nowadays, many people around the globe want to immigrate to Canada permanently, thanks to its diverse community, better lifestyle, and lucrative job opportunities. This immigration-friendly country has launched several immigration programs, and Express Entry is one of the most popular and quickest immigration programs, which chooses skilled workers for permanent residency based on their qualifications.
Candidates are ranked through a points-based system, and the selected ones are invited to apply for permanent residence. At the beginning of 2023, Canada mostly carried on this immigration process as it did in 2022.For instance, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada placed the draws every two weeks either for everybody or for Federal Skilled Workers or sometimes for the Provincial Nominee Program.
In this article, we have discussed significant changes in Express Entry throughout this year.
According to the latest changes in the Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act in June 2022, the authority prioritized candidates with particular attributes which strengthen Canada’s labour force and economy compared to high CRS scores and issued ITA or ‘Invitation To Apply’ to them. Due to this latest regulation, IRCC included six new categories for Express Entry draws in May 2023. The following categories are,
IRCC invited approx. 21,000 candidates throughout four Express Entry draws in March 2023. Though among the 43 Express Entry draws in 2023, 19 were all program draws, 5 were PNP, 17 were category-based draws, and candidates from the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program and Canadian Experience Class took part in them, but FSTP did not get any ITAs so far.
According to the latest data from IRCC, most candidates who were issued ITA between January and September 2023 scored between 451 and 500, and another 12,590 had CRS scores between 900 and 1,200. As per the result, the lowest CRS score for all program draws was 481 on 29th March 2023, and 7,000 candidates received ITAs. In another draw, the highest score was 561 on 6th December 2023, and IRCC sent ITAs to 4,750 all-program candidates.
On 2nd February, 3,300 Federal Skilled Workers scored 489 received ITAs, and in September, 600 agriculture and agri-food workers with a CRS score of 354 got invited. Last but not least, in July and October, IRCC invited 500 STEM workers and 300 French language proficiency candidates with scores of 486.
It has become impossible to predict how often Canada issues ITAs due to the latest introduction of category-based selection draws. In 2023, IRCC placed Express Entry draws every two weeks between January and June.IRCC held five draws in September and seven draws in December 2023 to select candidates. Surprisingly, they paused the immigration process between 26th October and 6th December for several reasons, such as staffing issues and IT glitches, though the reasons have not been confirmed yet.
On 8th June, 4,800 candidates received ITAs through all program express entry draws, and the minimum score was 486. Five hundred candidates got ITAs through the healthcare occupations draw on 28th June, and the lowest CRS score was 476.On 3rd August 2023, 1,500 applicants received ITAs through trade occupations draws, and the score was 388. On 8th December, approx. 5,900 applicants got ITAs through STEM occupations; the lowest CRS score was 481.
During 2023, IRCC aimed for 82,880 Express Entry candidates. But from 11th January to 21st December, they actually sent ITAs to 110,266 candidates. However, as per the Immigration Levels Plan 2024-2026, Canada has aimed to take 110,000 new permanent residents through Express Entry. But that does not mean IRCC will admit all the candidates by the end of this year because they take up to 6 months to process an Express Entry application.For example, applicants who got ITA in 2023 will get the admission in 2024. In addition, it’s also possible that the minister will change the current categories for category-based selections if it is seen that the best candidates are not chosen to strengthen Canada‘s economy.
However, if you want to get professional guidance on the Express Entry program, contact Impulse Immigration Consultancy Inc.