(Find Out How to be Selected)
On January 31st; February 7th; February 21st and February 28th 2015 CIC completed rounds of invitations for permanent residence under Express Entry. Attorney Colin Singer discusses the policy implications.
January 31st Invitations:
CIC invited 779 skilled workers, including professionals in natural and applied sciences and industrial, electrical and construction trades to apply for Canadian permanent residence. Each of the invited candidates in the Express Entry Pool declared they had a valid job offer or provincial nomination. The lowest score was 886 under the Comprehensive Ranking Score.
February 7th Invitations:
CIC invited 779 skilled workers from the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, Canadian Experience Class and Provincial Nominee Program. The lowest CRS score was 818.
February 21st Invitations:
CIC invited 849 skilled workers from the Canadian Experience Class. The lowest CRS score was 809.
February 28th Invitations:
CIC invited 1187 skilled workers from the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, Canadian Experience Class and Provincial Nominee Program. The lowest CRS score was 735.
Question: It appears the first rounds of candidates who were selected had high Comprehensive Ranking Scores. Why is this?
Colin Singer: We believe that during the initial stages, CIC wants to set the bar as high as possible. It also wants to showcase the Express Entry Immigration system as bringing into Canada candidates who with a high likelihood of integrating fully and quickly into the Canadian labour market. We know that applicants with a valid job offer or having Provincial Nomination have the highest chances of meeting these objectives. It is no surprise that CIC set the bar as high as it could on the first series of draws. We can see that the minimum scores are falling in each successive draw. We can expect this to continue for many of the remaining 15-20 draws in 2015.
Question: How does Express Entry operate?
Colin Singer: Under Express Entry, qualified applicants across many occupations are invited to submit their profile to an Express Entry Pool and to the Canada Job Bank.
Employers will be encouraged to review candidates with the highest ranking and provide a job offer to the candidate of their choice.
Applicants with an approved job offer or those selected by a province or with “Provincial Nomination” will be considered a “match” and will be invited to formally apply for Canadian permanent residence.
The profiles of the remaining applicants will be ranked for consideration without a “sponsor” or hiring employer. Using a point system according to a number of selection factors such as Age, Education, Language, Experience and other factors, the highest ranked candidates will be considered for their potential “human capital” contribution to Canada.
Immigration authorities will then decide which of the highest ranked applicants will be invited to apply for permanent residence. This will take place across economic class programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Skilled Trades Program the Canada Experience Class and certain parts of the Provincial Nominee Program.
Question: Under Express Entry, will candidates be dependent on a job offer from a “sponsor” Canadian employer?
Colin Singer: Annual levels for 2015 have been raised to between 260,000 – 285,000 which will represent Canada’s highest immigration levels in 5 years. From this level approximately 175,000 will comprise Economic Class immigrants and their dependants. A qualified job offer from an employer in Canada is a significant benefit that will enable candidates to relocate in 6 months. But it is not a requirement. The numbers of applicants who are expected to succeed in securing an approved job offer under Express Entry will likely be modest.
Question: How is immigration.ca positioned for Canada’s new Express Entry Immigration System?
We are pleased to confirm that our clients were among those issued invitations to apply for permanent residence during the initial draws conducted by CIC in 2015.
We strongly believe that employment recruitment and individualized search consulting assistance is an important consideration for all immigrant applicants to Canada. In 2007, we acquired SkilledWorker (www.skilledworker.com) an independently owned franchise of Chicago based Global Recruiters Network. GRN Montreal provides search consulting expertise that applicants and employers require. For the past 7 years we have provided all our immigration clients with invaluable, search consulting services from our in-house trained recruiters.
We believe our clients have the best chances to succeed in their immigration projects under the new Express Entry Immigration to Canada.
