Express Entry Draws Resuming in July
In an event held in New Brunswick on April 22, 2022 , the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC), announced that Express Entry draws are resuming in early July 2022. To be specific, these draws to invite federal high-skilled candidates to apply for Canadian permanent residence includes the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) class, Federal Skilled Trades (FST) class and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). You can read the official article on the IRCC website.
“With the economy growing faster than employers can hire new workers, Canada needs to look at every option so that we have the skills and labour needed to fuel our growth. Immigration will be crucial to easing our labour shortage, and these measures aim to address pressing needs in all sectors across the country, while providing more opportunities for recent graduates and other applicants to build their lives in Canada and continue contributing to our short-term recovery and long-term prosperity.”
– The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada
Background
This announcement comes after a long pause made by IRCC during the pandemic that involved the Express Entry draws that affected the above mentioned classes. Since December 23, 2020, there has been no all-program draws, which would include FSW candidates in the pool. On that last draw, IRCC issued 5,000 Invitations to Apply (ITAs). In the same vein, the last draw for CEC candidates took place on September 14, 2021 with 2,000 ITAs issued. For FST candidates, it has been since August 6, 2020 that this category is not invited to apply for permanent residence.
Processing Inventory
The minister clarified today that this measure to pause draws in those classes was taken at a time when travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed overseas application processing. As a consequence, there was a large backlog of applications which impacted applicants and their families. Approximately 111,900 people from September 2021 where waiting for their applications to be processed. Fortunately, as of March 2022 this processing inventory went down to 48,000 people. Minister Fraser stated that the institution intends to further reduce the backlog by July 2022.
! If you are planing to become a candidate for the Express Entry pool and are thinking on getting help, start by filling our contact form to proceed with a consultation with our immigration professionals. We will arrange a meeting and determine your eligibility for Canadian immigration.