Express Entry report 2016

In a complete and informative report, Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada (IRCC, formerly known as CIC) has provided precious insights on the first 12 months of the Express entry selection system in 2015 , which came into operation on January 1, 2015.

This report provides a range of highly useful information for new Express Entry candidates for immigration to Canada. The report is based on the first 23 draws (also known as rounds of invitations), CIC has published a series of articles analyzing this report.

Over the course of 2015, a total of 31,063 invitation to apply were issued to individuals around the world looking to immigrate to Canada. The followings are the most important highlights of this report:

 Many candidates in IT occupations have been issued ITAs, while individuals working in the food service industry have also fared well.

 The majority of candidates issued ITAs were residing in Canada.

 More than half of all invited candidates were nationals of one of the following five countries: India, Philippines, China, the U.K., and Ireland.

 IRCC has stated that ‘Future invitation rounds from the Express Entry pool will become the main source of applications to meet annual immigration levels targets for certain economic immigration programs under the Express Entry system as the older inventories are reduced.’

In the run-up to the launch of Express Entry, the government of Canada stated that the new system would ensure that Canada’s economic and labour market needs are met.The new selection system in comparison to the previous intake system is responding at a much wider range to the immediate need of the Canadian market.

The top 10 most invited occupations made up 10,685 (or 38%) of the total number of ITAs issued. These occupations were:

Given that early draws selected a large number of candidates under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), it is likely that a large number of food service supervisors and cooks already in Canada were invited over the first few rounds of invitations. As time goes on, the relative number of invitees in such occupations is expected to decrease.

Of the 31,063 ITAs issued during 2015, a total of 13,214 (42.6%) of them were issued under FSW, 11,228 (36.1%) were issued under CEC, 4,105 (13.2%) were issued under PNP, and 2,516 (8.1%) were issued under FST.

When Express Entry was set up, the government of Canada set a target to process and at least 80% of complete applications were processed within six months. Not only has this target been reached yet it has actually been surpassed.

This aspect leaves the system in a competitive position to continue to attract new candidates who wish to take control of their own destiny and apply to an immigration system that is responsive and swift.

Applications approved (14,058) and refused (2,433), up to January 3, 2016.

Country of residence and citizenship of invited candidate

While more than three quarters (78.1%) of invited candidates over the course of 2015 were residing in Canada, this figure is lower than it was for the mid-year report published by CIC/IRCC. At that time, and over the course of the first 11 draws only, 85.5% of invited candidates were residents of Canada.

IRCC has been as good as its word when it comes to processing times, which is positive news for candidates and employers alike. With the department having also stated that future invitation rounds will become the main source of applications to meet annual immigration levels. The outlook for the rest of 2016 and beyond is positive.”