Another very large-scale selection Express Entry

For professionals with occupations in the priority sector.

On December 8, another immigration draw was held through the Express Entry system — the third in a row. This time, the invitations were for science, technology, engineering and math majors (STEM), the third such selection in history. A total of 5,900 invitations were sent out.

To receive an invitation, candidates had to score 481 points or more in the Comprehensive Ranking System. Points are awarded for age, education, language skills, work experience, having a job offer in Canada, ability to adapt to the country and so on.

The previous Express Entry drawings were held 6 and 7 December, the last targeted selection was held 26 October for health care workers, and specialists specifically in science, technology, engineering and mathematics were last invited as early as 5 July. At that time, the passing score was 5 points higher.

The Express Entry system is used in Canada to select applicants for federal immigration programs:

To get invited in the target selection, the candidate must have minimum 6 months work experience in the last 3 years in one of the professions. However, to be registered in the Express Entry system, you need 1 year of work experience in the last 10 years. Thus, it was sufficient to have worked for six months in the priority occupation and six months in any other occupation in order to be invited.

For a full list of in-demand professions for which targeted selections are held, see here.