3300 new invites sent by IRCC to candidates in the Federal Skilled Workers program

Highlights

• IRCC holds unusual program-specific draws sending invites to 3300 candidates in the Federal Skilled Workers program.

• This is the second program-specific draw of 2023 after the results on February 1 that only invited candidates who have already received a provincial nomination.

IRCC held the fourth Express Entry draw of the year on 2nd February 2023. In this draw, the Immigration Refugees and Citizens Canada (IRCC) authorities have sent invites to specifically the candidates in the Federal Skilled Workers program. This has happened for the first time since the inception of the Express Entry system in 2015.

In this draw, the cut-off CRS score has also been reduced to 489 compared to the previous draws, where eligible candidates were required to score at least 500 in the Comprehensive Ranking System.

Generally, Express Entry draws take place once every two weeks. However, in 2023, IRCC has already conducted four draws, inviting immigrants from various backgrounds. Since the long, gap caused by the pandemic and unwanted technological glitches, the Express Entry draw has deviated from the aforementioned routine. This has caused the latest consecutive draws by the IRCC.

The Express Entry system has been managing various Canadian immigration programs since 2015. The system manages the applications of the candidates from streams like the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Workers Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and the Provincial Nominee Program. Candidates in the Express Entry pool are already eligible for any one of these programs. However, this is very unique for the authorities to hold a program-specific draw since all the Express Entry draws are generally all-program draws.

The Express Entry system uses a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to rank the profiles of candidates. The top-scoring candidates receive an invite to Apply (ITA) and can apply for permanent residency. After a profile has been created, a visa officer examines the profile and ranks the applicants accordingly. If a candidate has already received a provincial nomination, he or she gets 600 CRS points.

Owing to the long hiatus in Express Entry due to the pandemic and a labor shortage in Canada, the authorities are looking to make changes to the Express Entry system. The IRCC is looking to target specific attributes rather than issuing ITAs solely based on the CRS scores.

Here is an overview of past draws of 2023