5 years of Canada Express Entry Program: Are the Objectives Fulfilled?

March 25 , 2020 By Rajneesh Kumar

The Express Entry program of Canada is celebrating 5 years of its existence. Launched on 1st January 2015, this Canadian immigration system is a big step that was taken by the government of Canada with an objective to meet the labour gaps.

The good news here is that five years down the lane, this Express Entry system has proved to be a major success for Canada s immigration and development.

Since its launch, the Federal Express Entry system had issued a total of 71,700 invitations to apply so far in the year 2019. And there are much higher expectations for the upcoming years. So, let us have an overview of how the Express Entry program has performed in the past years, the major changes, breakthroughs, and upcoming trends.

Old Immigration Process Vs New Express Entry System of Canada

Before the introduction of Express Entry, Canada uses to follow a first-come, first-served approach for processing visa applications of all the candidates falling under Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class categories.

While, the new system follows a point-based system, where the candidates are ranked based on their CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) score. This score is awarded on the basis of key profile factors like candidate s age, work experience, language proficiency, education, etc.

So, the key difference between the old and the new system is that the old one was prone to have a pile of applications, leaving applicants clueless about their application status. This in turn also causes a delay is processing the applications of eligible candidates. The reason being, IRCC used to review all the applications that were submitted and used to grant permanent residence to all those who have met the eligibility requirements. All they need to do was to pass an admissibility check, which included criminality, health, security checks.

Whereas, it s not the case with Express Entry System. As said earlier, now the decision is taken on the basis of scores and rankings. Those with the highest ranks receive an Invitation to Apply from IRCC within 6 months time period. This way, all those candidates who haven t received their ITAs in any respective EE draws can further work upon improvising their scores, while their application is still in the EE pool.

Impact on Canada s Economy

The prospect of Canada s economic outcomes is pretty high since the introduction of the Express Entry system. Thanks to its transparent, point-based criteria, all the applicants get a fair chance. But, those young applicants with higher education background, better English and/or French language proficiency, and prior job offer are likely to score higher CRS points. high human capital integrates quickly into the economy.

In short, those applicants who are skilled, knowledgeable, and possess netter experience are getting more preference and will eventually prove valuable for Canada s economy. Because it has been observed that people with high human capital are more likely to integrate well into any economy in the world.

Check: Canada Skilled Occupation List

Challenges of Express Entry System

The Express Entry System comes with its own set of challenges as well and its two-tier system is one among them. If you apply via Express Entry, then the expected processing time is within six months, while in case of other immigration programs like Quebec and PNPs, which are not under Express Entry, you have to wait a bit longer, like up to 18 months or more.

Another drawback is ignoring the Francophone communities of Canada. It has been observed that only 4% of French proficient candidates have received their ITAs in 2018.

But, overall the Express Entry has shown a fair amount of progress and improvement with each passing year.

If you are among those aspiring immigrants who are willing to move to Canada as a permanent resident, then you can talk to our immigration consultants at Canada PR Avenue and drop us an e-mail at [email protected]ue.com.