In near future the Selection Pool will become main source of Canadian economic immigration applications. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has provided valuable insights on the Express Entry selection system for immigration to Canada, which came into operation on January 1, 2015.
This detailed report —a snapshot of the system for the initial six months of implementation, based on a data extract as of July 6, 2015 — provides solid grounds for optimism for individuals who are either in the pool today or thinking of creating a profile in the near future. Among a host of important statements, CIC disclosed that ‘Future rounds from the Express Entry pool will become the main source of applications to meet annual Canadian immigration levels targets for certain economic immigration programs under the Express Entry system as the older inventories are reduced. (‘Older inventories’ refers to applications submitted before January 1, 2015 that have not yet been processed to completion.) This news has been warmly welcomed by candidates in the pool, as it reveals a commitment on CIC’s part to increase the number of invitations to apply issued in the not too distant future.
The pool is growing by about 1,500 persons/profiles per week.
- The number of profiles completed was 112,701, with 48,723 of these not being eligible. The size of the pool is expected to remain large.
- A large number of foreign nationals already working in Canada have received invitations to apply because they have job offers supported by a Labor Market opinion (LMIA). This was especially the case during the earlier draws, and has resulted in Canada being the dominant country of residence for invited candidates (85.5% of all invited candidates).
- The most dominant countries of citizenship of invited candidates are India and the Philippines, each of which supplied around one-fifth of those invited to apply.
- Through the first 11 draws, 29.4% of those invited to apply did not have a qualifying job offer or enhanced provincial nomination certificate.
- 65% had a qualifying job offer.
- 5.4% had an enhanced provincial nomination certificate.
- Discounting the first four draws, however — in which only applicants with a CRS score above 600 were invited to apply — 41% of those invited to apply did not have a qualifying job offer or an enhanced provincial nomination certificate.
- A majority of candidates selected in the sixth (March 27), eighth (April 17) and eleventh (June 27) draws had neither a qualifying job offer nor a provincial nomination certificate.
- A majority (65.78%) of candidates in the pool had between 300 and 400 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points.
- A total of 5,534 of the overall 12,928 invitations to apply issued had been to candidates under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), with Federal Skilled Workers (FSW, 4,809), Federal Skilled Trades (FST, 1,887) and Provincial Nominees (PN, 698) following. Though provincial nominees have provided the fewest invitees so far, the number of candidates being invited to apply having obtained an enhanced provincial nomination certificate has increased over the most recent draws. This is likely because certain provinces have had the time to assess applications submitted earlier this year.
Though CIC released this report as we enter August, the data used to compile the results is from July 6. Since that date, CIC has performed two further draws from the pool, on July 10 and July 17, both of which saw the CRS points requirement decrease. The thirteenth, and most recent, Express Entry draw selected candidates with 451 or more CRS points. This draw represents a milestone in the short history of Express Entry as the CRS points requirement has decreased to its lowest cut-off point yet.
A number of candidates issued invitations to apply in this draw had been in the pool for some time; these candidates made efforts to increase their CRS score and ranking by, for example, re-taking language tests and achieving better scores, or gaining additional work experience. The thirteenth draw may also be seen as a positive development for candidates in the pool who did not receive an invitation to apply this time around, as the number of CRS points required has been decreasing across the most recent four draws.
With an increasing number of Canadian provinces having introduced Express Entry streams as part of their Provincial Nominee Programs, candidates in the Express Entry pool are seeing an increasing number of options and opportunities for obtaining the all-important invitation to apply. The provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan, as well as the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have all introduced such streams in recent weeks.
Mid-year analysis
The present scene is one that is welcome to all candidates. CRS score requirements have been steadily decreasing, the number of candidates being invited to apply has been increasing, provinces is beginning to issue enhanced nomination certificates, an increasing number of candidates without job offers or provincial nominations have received invitations to apply, and CIC has been as good as its word when it comes to processing times. This is all very positive.
The jewel of this report, however, is where it concerns the future. In stating that ‘future rounds from the Express Entry pool will become the main source of applications to meet annual immigration levels targets for certain economic immigration programs,’ CIC has published in black and white what many people have been hoping all year. I would therefore encourage anybody interested in immigrating to Canada to begin the process immediately.
