Question Period Note: EXPRESS ENTRY

Status of the Express Entry system which is used for managing applications in a number of economic immigration categories.

• Immigration remains crucial to addressing Canada’s longstanding demographic challenges and labour shortages.
• Express Entry is Canada’s flagship application management system for a number of economic immigration programs, which focus on Canada’s long-term economic growth. Top-ranked candidates are regularly invited to apply for permanent residence.
• In June 2022, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was amended to authorize category-based selection in Express Entry. This will expand selection flexibility, enabling better targeting of invitations to candidates who meet specified economic priorities and objectives, such as supporting sectors facing acute labour shortages.
• The Department is consulting on priorities and categories and the first anticipated use of category-based selection in Express Entry is spring 2023.

If pressed
• Economic results for Express Entry applicants are positive: These individuals are becoming economically established with high employment rates and employment income, and are working in their primary occupations.

If pressed on physicians
• I announced changes to make it easier for foreign-born physicians with job opportunities to remain in Canada, so they can continue to practise and bolster our health care system.
• Some physicians have faced barriers in accessing permanent residence through Canada’s federal economic programs for skilled workers managed under the Express Entry system, as the “fee-for-service” model used in Canada for health care professionals is outside of the usual employer-employee relationship.
• To address this challenge, IRCC is working on measures to facilitate permanent residence for physicians, who work in a fee-for-service model with public health authorities, by exempting them from some of the current requirements.
• This change will recognize the unique employment model used in Canada’s health care system, and will provide physicians with access to Canada’s economic permanent residence programs.

If pressed on category-based selection
• The Government is seeking to build on the success of Express Entry to better respond to a range of evolving economic needs and Government priorities.
• As announced in the 2022 federal Budget, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was recently amended to authorize the Minister to invite foreign nationals to apply for permanent residence via Express Entry, on a new basis – their eligibility to be members of a category that would support an identified economic goal.
• Categories have not yet been established, but could be based on factors such as specific work experience, educational background, or language skills.
• IRCC is currently consulting with partners and stakeholders to gather input on proposed priorities and categories, with a focus on addressing chronic labour market shortages and positioning for the future, and supporting economic growth in Francophone minority communities. IRCC will also report annually to Parliament on the use of category-based selection.
• Some of the potential categories for the first use of category-based selection may include French-speaking or bilingual individuals, and individuals, including temporary foreign workers and international students, whose skills and experience could support sectors facing acute and chronic shortages.
If pressed on pause/resumption of ITA rounds
• With many of the border restrictions for permanent residents now lifted and processing inventories reduced, invitations to apply to the Federal High Skilled streams resumed in July 2022, following a temporary pause from September 2021. Enough clients are being invited to meet admissions objectives while at the same time ensuring that new applications are processed within the 6-month service standard. IRCC has been consulting regularly with provinces and territories on immigration measures during the pandemic, and will continue to engage with them as we collectively address the continued impact of COVID-19 on our programs and operations.

If pressed on wait times
• New hires as well as support provided through the $85 million from the Economic and Fiscal Update 2021, have allowed us to reduce wait times and return to pre-pandemic service standards for new clients in critical areas, including the six-month service standard for the Express Entry permanent residence pathway.

• Launched in January 2015, Express Entry provides the means to control application intake and invite foreign nationals who are selected for their skills and ability to contribute to Canada’s economy.
• Applications received through the Express Entry system are electronic. Completing an Express Entry profile is the first step for immigrants considering the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program as their pathway to permanent residence.
• Applicants who meet the minimum criteria are entered into a pool, awarded points based on information in their profile and ranked by the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The top ranking candidates are then invited to apply for permanent residence.
• The composition of the pool of candidates is constantly changing as new candidates submit profiles, existing candidates take steps to improve their CRS points and other candidates are invited to apply for permanent residence. As such, we cannot speculate on future Express Entry draws since cut-off scores vary over time.
• Category-based selection will further supplement these efforts by selecting top-ranked candidates that support key Government and economic goals.

Current Status
System performance
• An evaluation of Express Entry was published in 2020, which found that applicants generally demonstrate high levels of labour market participation and employment income, and are working in their primary occupations. The Express Entry system was designed to select candidates with high human capital, who have the potential to achieve economic success in the Canadian labour market over the longer term, and these early economic results are generally encouraging. It should also be noted, however, that these findings pre-date the current economic shock related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Express Entry applicants also generally outperform their non-Express Entry counterparts. Nearly all Express Entry principal applicants had a job in their first years as a permanent resident (95% in the first year following their admission). Of those who were working at the time of the evaluation:
o 83% reported doing so in their primary occupation;
o Express Entry principal applicants earned 20% more than non-Express Entry principal applicants; and,
o 43% of Express Entry principal applicants were in occupations usually requiring university education (i.e. National Occupation Classification (NOC) TEER 1) for their first job as a permanent resident compared to 25% for non-Express Entry principal applicants.
• The Department is implementing an action plan to address the recommendations of the evaluation, namely monitoring the Comprehensive Ranking System, making improvements to the electronic application system, a more systematic approach to managing integrity, and addressing certain gaps in information collection.
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2019) also examined “Expression of Interest” systems and identified Canada’s Express Entry as a model for successful economic immigration management, noted for its refinement in ranking of candidates, ongoing testing and adaptation to evidence, and focus on human capital factors.
• IRCC continues to monitor and report Express Entry results, engage with partners and stakeholders and consider international comparators, with the aim of ensuring that Canada continues to benefit from immigrants with high human capital, and the diverse skills and experience needed to grow our economy.

Legislative Changes Announced in Federal Budgets: Category-based Selection
• As announced in the 2022 federal Budget, the Immigration and Refugees Protection Act was amended in June 2022 to authorize the Minister to invite foreign nationals to apply for permanent residence via Express Entry, on a new basis – their eligibility to be members of a category that would support an identified economic goal.
• Express Entry’s category-based selection authorities are expected to be launched in spring 2023, and will increase the flexibility to select those with the skills and talent needed to support Canada’s changing and diverse economic and labour force needs, long term growth and prosperity.
• Categories have not yet been established, and will change over time. They will be informed by engagement with provincial and territorial partners and with stakeholders through a public consultation process. The first such consultation process is currently underway, in fall 2022, with a focus on addressing chronic labour market shortages and positioning for the future, and supporting economic growth in Francophone minority communities.
o These priorities could be supported by selecting candidates based on work experience in in-demand fields, transitioning temporary workers and international graduates, and selecting Francophone or bilingual candidates and help meet the Ministers’ mandate commitments.
• Following the implementation of category-based selection, the Department will report annually to Parliament on the list of categories established, selection criteria used and the process applied to establish categories.

Candidates in the Express Entry Pool
• As of September 2022, the number of candidates in the Express Entry pool was at an all-time high with nearly 236,000 profiles.
• Gender distribution in the Express Entry pool has consistently been approximately 53% men and 47% women.
• Between January and September 2022, the top five occupations of eligible profile submissions in the Express Entry pool were:
o Software engineers and designers;
o Food service supervisors;
o Information systems analysts and consultants;
o Administrative assistants; and
o Computer programmers and interactive media developers.

COVID-19 Related Facilitative Measures: Canadian Experience Class and Provincial Nominee Focus; Invitation to Apply Pause; and Online Study
• During the imposition of COVID-19 related restrictions, Express Entry rounds of invitations focused largely on inviting Canadian Experience Class-eligible candidates, the majority of whom were already in Canada, and provincial nominees, whom provinces have identified as possessing needed skills for their local labour market.
o These Canadian Experience Class-focused rounds allowed the Department to meet levels in 2021 while international travel was restricted.
• In 2021 there were 99,653 invitations to apply to the Canadian Experience Class, making up 87% of all Express Entry invitations issued that year. This is an increase from 58,201 in 2020, which made up 54% of all Express Entry invitations issued that year. Between January and September 2022, 8,679 invitations were issued to candidates to apply to the Canadian Experience Class, representing 31% of all invitations.
o In order to be eligible for the Canadian Experience Class, candidates must:
 meet the required language levels needed for their job;
 have at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada in the last 3 years before they apply;
 have gained work experience while being authorized to work in Canada; and
 be admissible to Canada.
o Individuals selected through the Canadian Experience Class historically have a high incidence of employment. The 2020 Express Entry evaluation found that candidates selected through the Canadian Experience Class had an employment incidence of 97%.
• A provincial nomination guarantees an invitation to apply for permanent residence through Express Entry; the proportion of invitations issued to candidates nominated by a province or territory was approximately 13% in 2020 and 2021. Between January and September 2022, 55% of invitations issued were to candidates with a provincial nomination.
o This sharp increase in the first three quarters of 2022 is due to the pause of invitations to Federal High Skilled immigration programs, while invitations continued to be issued to provincial nominees from September 2021 until July 2022.
• In July 2022, the Department implemented special measures to assist international students, who may have completed up to 100% of their studies online, through Canadian educational institutions during the pandemic, in meeting eligibility criteria for Canadian educational credential points in Express Entry.

• Travel restrictions throughout most of 2020 and 2021 delayed the processing of overseas applications, leading to significant growth in the Federal High Skilled processing inventory. To manage this inventory and position IRCC to process existing applications in a timely manner, the Department temporarily paused invitations to apply to the Federal High Skilled programs managed by Express Entry from September 2021 until July 2022.

Invitations to Apply Issued through Express Entry
• Given pandemic related temporary measures to pause most invitations to apply, the first 13 rounds of invitations in 2022 targeted provincial nominees, and in July 2022 re-opened to all Federal High Skilled programs. In total, between January and September 2022, there have been 20 rounds of invitations to apply with 28,039 invitations issued. Enough clients are being invited to meet admissions objectives while at the same time ensuring that new applications are processed within the 6-month service standard.
• In 2021, 114,431 invitations were issued to highly skilled foreign nationals over 40 rounds of invitations, surpassing the 107,350 invitations issued over 37 rounds of invitations in 2020, and the 85,300 invitations issued in 2019.
• In 2021, over 139K admissions out of the 405K were from Federal High Skilled programs, which includes the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class.

Express Entry Inventory
• Inventory backlogs that were the result of the temporary pandemic-related measure to pause sending invitations to apply to most programs managed through Express Entry, have been reduced. Between September 2021 and the end of September 2022:
o The Federal High Skilled inventory has decreased by approximately 109K;
 The Canadian Experience Class inventory has significantly decreased from approximately 60K to 7.4K;
 The Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trade program inventory has been reduced from approximately 52K to 11.3K; and
 The Provincial Nominee Program Express Entry inventory has also decreased, from approximately 36.5K to 20.7K.
• Applicants currently on inventory, who mostly applied before or during the pandemic, can expect longer than average processing times. As of September 2022:
o The processing time for the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trade programs is 27 months;
o The processing time for the Canadian Experience Class is 16 months.

National Occupational Classification (NOC) – 2021 reforms
• The NOC is the national classification of occupations developed and maintained by ESDC and Statistics Canada. It is used across IRCC lines of business for the purposes of immigration selection.
• On November 16, 2022, IRCC aligned with ESDC to implement the latest iteration of the NOC—NOC 2021. This revision will overhaul the classification’s structure (i.e. NOC 2016’s four-category skill level) to include a more nuanced categorization of skill (i.e. NOC 2021’s six-category Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER)) for each occupation in Canada.
• Sixteen occupations formerly categorized as lower-skilled (e.g. truck drivers) will become eligible for IRCC’s high-skilled immigration streams as a result.
• IRCC and ESDC are closely collaborating to ensure timely and coordinated implementation, as well as consistent messaging with stakeholders.

Express Entry Reforms and Results
• A number of reforms to Express Entry have been introduced since 2016, informed by internal monitoring and feedback from clients, partners and stakeholders. These changes have been made to better attract and retain top talent and support the Global Skills Strategy, drive innovation, cut red tape for employers and prioritize workers with the skills needed for the economy.
• The adjustments have demonstrated that the Express Entry system can adapt to changing contexts and priorities, and has proven to be a flexible tool to select and admit applicants through economic immigration programs.

Supporting French-speaking immigration
• First introduced in June 2017, bonus points for candidates with strong French-language skills under Express Entry have been successful at increasing French-speaking admissions outside Quebec. This is why the number of bonus points awarded through Express Entry were further increased in October 2020 from 15 to 25 for French-speaking candidates and from 30 to 50 for bilingual candidates, increasing their likelihood of receiving an invitation to apply.
• Increasing bonus points for French-language skills is helping deliver on the government’s commitment to reach the target of 4.4% French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Quebec by 2023 and will contribute to the achievement of goals of the Department’s Francophone Immigration Strategy announced in 2019.
• In 2020, 5.2% of invitations to apply through Express Entry were issued to French-speaking candidates, however given temporary pandemic related measures, this declined to 2.2% in 2021. As general invitation rounds resumed, this figure has increased and between January and September 2022, 7.1% of invitations to apply were issued to French-speaking candidates.
o Of note, “French-speakers” are defined as candidates that indicate French as their first official language, so the total number with some French-language skills is higher.
• In 2020, French-speaking admissions under Express Entry represented the majority (58%) of French-speaking admissions outside Quebec overall, making Express Entry one of the most promising tools to increase French-speaking admissions outside Quebec. From January to November 2021, French-speaking Permanent Residents admitted to Canada outside Quebec, via Express Entry, represented 44% of all French speakers outside Quebec. This lower figure is due to temporary pandemic related measures to focus most invitations to apply to Canadian Experience Class and provincial nominee applicants.

International Students in Express Entry
• Former international students have benefited from points for Canadian study credentials (15 points for one or two year post-secondary credentials, and 30 points for three year or university level credentials) since 2016, giving them a competitive edge against candidates who studied elsewhere.
• Given the temporary pandemic related measure to focus rounds on the Canadian Experience Class program, 59% of those invited to apply in 2021 had points for Canadian education compared to 39% in 2020.There was a decrease to 17% between January and September 2022, as invitations were limited to provincial nominees, and then general rounds resumed in July 2022.

Changes to Arranged Employment Points
• In 2016, points assigned for offers of arranged employment were reduced (from 600 to 200 for candidates with job offers in National Occupational Classification major group 00 occupations (senior managers), and to 50 for all other occupations). Since then, most candidates are invited based on their high human capital, such as Canadian work experience.
• Research has demonstrated that Canadian work experience, rather than a job offer, contributes significantly more to immigrants’ early labour market success.
o Between January and September 2022, 13% of those invited to apply for permanent residence had arranged employment points, compared to 16% in 2021 and 15% in 2020.
o Job offers are likely under-reported by candidates with high enough Comprehensive Ranking System scores to be invited without one as the process for claiming job offer points can be burdensome.
• Facilitative measures for job offers have included, since 2016, exempting certain candidates from the requirement to validate their offer of arranged employment with a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and changing the duration of offers of arranged employment from “indeterminate" to a minimum of one year in duration, to facilitate job offers to candidates in contract-based industries.
• Implementation of the changes to job offer points, in conjunction with larger invitation round sizes from September 2016, also appear to have had a significant impact on the occupation mix of invited candidates.
o Since then, the top ten occupations invited have mostly been NOC Skill level A (NOC 2016) or TEER 1 occupations (NOC 2021) (i.e. jobs that require a university education).
o Prior to the points change, top occupations included chefs and cooks; now they are dominated by STEM fields and include software engineers and designers, IT analysts, computer programmers, and financial experts, in line with the Global Skills Strategy.
• According to recent data from Statistics Canada (January 2021), immigrants who previously held a work permit as a temporary resident in Canada often report higher wages one year after becoming permanent residents.

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