What You Need to Know About the Changes to the Express Entry Draws
The second Express Entry draw of the year occurred on January 18th, inviting 5,500 candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 490 and bringing the total number of Invitations to Apply (ITAs) issued in 2023 to 11,000. This move marks the highest number of ITAs ever issued to start off a year and follows up on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) intention to boost immigration of skilled workers throughout the next few years.
Increased ITA numbers are hardly the only change being made to the Express Entry stream in 2023. Last June, Bill C-19 was passed by the Canadian government with the goal of reforming immigration policy to better target Canadian economic and labour needs.
A provision under Bill C-19 amending Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives the IRCC greater autonomy, allowing them to conduct the issuance of ITAs to target categories of in-demand attributes such as certain educational credentials. This is a significant addition to the the system maintained by the IRCC since the stream’s 2015 introduction, where draws strictly issued ITAs only to candidates meeting the required CRS score. Candidates’ CRS scores are generated from a points system, where they are given a certain amount of points depending on statistics-generated criteria such as levels of education, work experience, and age.
Under the changes made by Bill C-19, Express Entry draws can also now extend invitations to candidates in five specific groups:
- Occupational background
- Labour shortages in specific sectors of the economy
- Status as international student graduates
- Current state of residence in Canada
- French proficiency
Usage of the CRS scoring process will still be maintained, with the addition of the above selection categories.
Ideally, the increased authorization will allow the IRCC to better customize their Express Entry criteria to target Canada’s most current economic and post-pandemic needs, and select candidates with the best chance of succeeding in the labour market. The targeted selection will also help the IRCC support candidate groups that have historically been a good fit for permanent residence, such as those with previous temporary Canadian work experience.
However, the amendments to the Express Entry draws do come with a greater amount of uncertainty. Previously, the universal score-based ITA criteria were fairly objective, maintaining that high scores were equivalent to high chances of success in the labour market. Now candidates that meet or exceed a draw’s cutoff score are not guaranteed an ITA.
As of now, all 2023 Express Entry draws are all-program, CRS-based draws. Bill C-19 has an implementation timeline set for Q1 of 2023.
