Resumption of federal Express Entry selections
Since September 2021, only candidates from Canadian provinces received invitations.
The federal program Federal Skilled Worker is for college-educated professionals. Candidates must first meet the requirements of the program itself, after which they can register for Express Entry. The last time this program sent out invitations back in 2020. In an online discussion about future plans, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser called the program one of the most successful in the world and said Canada plans to hire a record number of people through it.
Fraser also promised that the federal Canadian Experience Class program, for candidates who have worked in Canada for at least a year, will resume soon. This program runs in the Express Entry system. Mainly it was used for Canadian university graduates, who received first a work permit after graduation, and then a permanent residence permit. The last selection was held September 14, 2021 and had a record low number of invited candidates.
For both of these programs, about 64,890 candidates were pending as of February 1.
The Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada plans to make the Express Entry program more flexible and accessible to international students and professionals in the near future, and to expand the pilot immigration program to northern and rural areas.
