Express Entry news: Human Capital factors and September pool
We already know that the Express Entry, one of the most famous programs to skilled immigrants in Canada, works with a points system. This points system, Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), ranks candidates using various factors, such as education, professional experience, language test, job offer, provincial nomination, etc. The higher you score, the more likely you are to receive an invitation to apply.
And in the last November, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) made some improvements on the Express Entry. After that, Human Capital factors got more important on the CRS points system. A very recent presentation of the Canadian government revealed that it caused a big change in the number of invitations for Permanent Residency. It is possible to affirm that because the number of invitations based just on these factors increased widely. Therefore, it means that more people were invited to apply for Permanent Residency in Canada without the need of job offer or a Provincial Nomination to get extra points. Before these improvements, only an average of 62% of candidates had enough points under the CRS to receive an invitation based only on Human Capital factors. But from November 2016 to February 2017, it had an increase of 90%.
The presentation also brought other good news for Express Entry candidates: more candidates outside Canada, specifically the ones eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker program, are receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA) than before November improvements. And it is important to remember that Express Entry candidates must qualify in at least one of the three programs Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trade Program to be invited to apply.
Try now: How to calculate your Express Entry points
What changed on the Express Entry system
Through this new presentation, we can see the effect of the IRCC changes of last November. Now, the Human Capital, skills, and experience have greater weight on the CRS system. Because some analyses suggested a distortion on the previous punctuation system when candidates got 600 additional CRS points for a qualified job offer. Therefore, to restore the balance between the labor market and immigrant outcomes, IRCC reduced significantly the value of a job offer. Now it just represents 200 points if the offer comes from the Major Group 00 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC). Or 50 points for a job offer in any other skilled position.
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Also, with this change in the points given to job offer, more candidates can obtain these extra points. Because some of the job offers can’t be under the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). And now on the non-LMIA cases, the worker can get extra points if he/she is working in Canada for at least one year and the job offer is made by the same employer named on the Work Permit.
In addition, the minimal duration now for the job offer is just one year. Before it had to be for an indeterminate time. This change allows employers in contract-based industries to recruit through Express Entry more easily. Very recent data revealed that 65% of invited candidates with a job offer benefitted from this new policy.
Another change made by the IRCC was related to international student’s retention. To guarantee that more former international graduates are invited to apply for Permanent Residency, IRCC allocated up to 30 CRS points to candidates who had studied in Canada. As result, from November 2016 to February 2017, the government processed 46% of the invitations to former international students. It is 15% more than the 31% before the reforms.
Finally, it is important to remember about the recent changes issued in June 2017, that conceives more points to French speakers and siblings in Canada.
Read more: How To Improve your English and French?
Top 10 ranking of Invited Occupations 2017
As we know, the Tech sector is in expansion in Canada. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is one of the areas that grew with more consistency in the number of invitations. From November 2016 to February 2018, 35% of the candidates invited to apply for Permanent Residency were from that area, this is an up of 28%. Meanwhile, lower skilled candidates received fewer invitations, experiencing a decrease from 11% to 3%.
The Informational Technology (IT) area continues to stand out among the other areas. IT workers really beneficiated of the Express Entry changes. And the number of invitations to apply for IT workers just keep rising over time, leading for 2016 and 2017 the top 10 ranking of Invited Occupations. Information systems analysts and consultants (National Occupational Classification 2171) represent 6% of the total of invitations (1,192 invitations sent) and workers have an average CRS of 524.
In the second place of the ranking comes Software engineers and designers (NOC 2173). They represented in 2016 4% and in 2017 they represent 5% of the total of invitations. With an average CRS of 515, 1,054 Software engineers and designers received invitations. Computer programmers and interactive media developers (NOC 2174) were in the third place of the top 10 invited occupations in 2017. This area represents 4% of the total of invitations and 896 were invited to apply with an average CRS of 503.
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The other areas on the top 10 invited occupations in 2017 are Financial auditors and accountants (NOC 1111) in the fourth place, representing 2% with 568 invitations sent and an average CRS of 500. In fifth, Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations (NOC 1123) also represented 2% with 478 invitations sent and an average CRS of 503.
Financial and investment analysts (NOC 1112) was in the sixth position of the ranking with 469 invitations issued. This represents 2% of the total and the average CRS for this position was 492. Following on the seventh position comes Administrative assistants (NOC 1241) representing 2%, with 436 invitations to apply for Permanent Residency with an average CRS of 513.
Also representing 2% each, the last three occupations of the top 10 ranking are: University professors and lecturers (NOC 1241) with 425 invitations (avg CRS 504); Professional occupations in business management consulting (NOC 1122) with 386 invitations (avg CRS 483); and finally, Advertising, marketing and public relations managers (NOC 0124) with 355 invitations (avg CRS 501).
Together, the top 10 positions represented 26% in 2016 and represent 31% in 2017 of the total of invitations sent. It means that 6,259 workers of one of these areas received an invitation to apply for Permanent Residency in Canada. The total of candidates invited to apply during this period was 20,296 workers.
Read more: 25 best places to work in Canada
Approval rate on the Express Entry
The IRCC received around 47,000 applications for Permanent Residency in the first two years of the program. And about 85% of invitations resulted in applications. And the approval rate is 97% for the applications that got into the IRCC final decision stage. Therefore, in most of the cases when the worker receives an ITA, he/she gets Canadian Permanent Residency if he/she goes through all the process.
Another interesting fact is that more and more processes of invitation are being issued. Of the 131,394 invitations issued since January 2015 (when Express Entry was launched), the government already processed 66,549 so far in 2017. This is much more than the total number issued during the entire year of 2016. Also, considering all applications since the program started, the government sent more than half of all invitations in 2017.
New invitations in September 2017
More candidates received invitations for Permanent Residency in the latest draw from the Express Entry pool. A total of 2,772 applicants with 435 or more in the CRS points system started to receive invitations in 6th September 2017. Candidates who receive the invitations have 90 days to submit the complete application on the IRCC website. This includes all the additional documents requested. The expected processing time after that is six months.
The 433 punctuation for the next pool, on 20th September, will follow the trend of the last six pools. The last six pools were at 28th June (449 points); 12th July (440 points); 2nd August (441 points); 9th August (433 points); 23rd August (434 points); and 6th Septemeber (435 points).
Read more: In-demand jobs in Ontario; Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
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