Canada Invites 100,000 Express Entry Candidates so far

Canada hits it and hits it hard – just 7 months and permanent residency invitations surpass 100,000. Including the latest Express Entry Draw (on 5th August), Canada has so far released 102,316 “Invitations to Apply” to the PR candidates in the Express Entry pool. When the world sleeps behind the protective curtain during a pandemic, Canada still managed to not only continue its immigration program but with immortal success compared with last year.

If we throw a look back at last year when Canada decided to accept 401,000 candidates in 2021, the separate quota of 108,500 was aside only for the Express Entry stream. No one even would think at that time that IRCC will be able to reach this target so soon. After unfolding the facts, one could easily come to know that the success has been dependent upon extraordinary measures taken by the federal government and IRCC.

Recent immigrant-friendly measures adopted by IRCC

In order to provide the immigrants more ease and to reach the immigration quota target of this year, IRCC has taken and adapted all possible measures as follows:

• Fully vaccinated tourists from all countries can enter September 7
• Fully vaccinated U.S. tourists can enter Canada starting August 9
• Fully vaccinated children of Canadians, and other exempt travellers to have amended quarantine starting August 9
• A new open work permit for those temporary workers or international graduates waiting for the decision of their PR application (pathway to permanent residence) 
• Meanwhile 9 airports accepting international flights
• Candidates of permanent residency programs having approved PR status will now be able to travel to Canada from 21 June 2021
• Lifting flight ban from the flights from Pakistan
• Hotel quarantine policy ending August 9
• Opening up more job opportunities in labor market
• Inviting 27,332 CEC candidate during the draw of 13 February 2021

How did Canada invite 100,000 Express Entry candidates?

Since Canada is aiming to reach its target of 401,000 immigrants in 2021, it needs each month a significant increase in numbers. It has till June, almost 143,000 immigrants admitted, which leaves it 258,000 behind. In other words, the country will need 43,000 immigrants from July to December 2021 each month to reach the target.

Pandemic made it almost impossible for Canada to receive more immigrants from around the world. The travel restrictions were also intact in the country since 18 March 2020, so no chance. Keeping in mind all the facts, the country made a new policy to give more focus to the Express Entry Program and the program of permanent residency of those who have temporary residence permits in Canada.

1- Working on Express Entry

IRCC worked openly on the Express Entry stream by releasing 30 draws till 5 August 2021 to allow about 102,316 candidates from PNP and CEC streams. It had to leave FSWP and FSTP in terms of priority as candidates of these two categories come from abroad mostly. So the only chance was to give invitations to PNP and CEC candidates from Express Entry pools – which it did. This benefited the system as these candidates were already in the country to apply for permanent residency after receiving ITA.

Since this all helped the country, the following results came up strongly:

2- Working on Temporary Resident Permit holders

Canada also planned to allow 90,000 temporary foreign workers to apply for permanent residency during May and November 2021 without any strict eligibility requirements through 6 PR programs. The focus of this new pathway has been on temporary workers employed in Canadian hospitals and long-term care homes (40 occupations) and on the frontlines of other essential sectors (95 occupations), as well as international graduates who are driving the economy.

In general, to be eligible, workers must have at least 1 year of Canadian work experience in a healthcare profession or another pre-approved essential occupation. International graduates must have completed an eligible Canadian post-secondary program within the last 4 years and no earlier than January 2017. Important to remember that the cap for the temporary workers and international students has been reached.

When will FSWP and FSTP draw take place?

First of all, considering all measures taken by the Canadian government and IRCC, the draws of the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Federal Skilled Trades Program seem to be released in near future. Secondly, Canada is now allowing non-essential travel to its 9 airports from the US from 9 August and from the rest of the world from 7 September 2021(only for fully vaccinated travelers). Moreover, this step will indeed allow candidates from FSWP and FSTP to get an invitation to apply as well. Canada has already allowed from 21 June 2021 the candidates having COPR (certificate of permanent residency) to travel to Canada.

Creating more jobs

With every passing month, Canada needs more and more foreign workers to stabilize its economy. Owing to its labor market needs, the country has been trying hard to lift up travel restrictions to welcome new foreign workers. Health workers, social workers, IT specialists, logistics professionals, and who not, Canada needs it all. The federal government researched how the pandemic has affected the labor force in each province and territory. In other words, jobs in Canada are available now for all new professionals.

The medical department remained on the top in May. The reason is it offered the highest number of job opportunities, which were almost more than half (1/6th) of the overall jobs offered by other departments. The vacant job posts were a total of 107,300 in just the medical department.

The departments of food and accommodations remained in the second position in May. The job posts these departments offered are a total of 78,000 including 73,800 seats for retail marketing. You can read here complete report.

Main Express Entry program of Canada

If you are also looking for settlement and working opportunities in Canada, the following immigration programs:

• The Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
• The Federal Skilled Trade Program (FSTP)
• Federal Skilled Worker Program(FWSP)