Category Archives: Expression of Interest (EOI)

779 candidates have been selected under the Express Entry system

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The 779 candidates who were selected, have two months to submit a complete application for permanent residence after receiving a letter, requesting that they submit a full application. This is the first draw from the Express Entry pool where candidates who are qualified under one the economic immigration programs, which consist of Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Trades and a portion of nominated applicant through the provincial programs.

This draw indicates that the new Express Entry system is working and that submitting a profile can truly lead to permanent residence.

Canada has purposely kept the first draw small as this is the first time where Immigraiton Canada can fix any potential glitches or problems and to test and make sure that the process moves forward without issues.

Candidates in the Express Entry pool are ranked according to a Ranking System (CRS) based on a number of factors and only top ranked candidates are invited to apply.  For this first draw, the candidates selected had relatively high scores. The candidates all had either a provincial nomination or an LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment – Qualifying job offer), which guarantees that you will have enough points to be selected under Express Entry.

CIC has indicated its intention to conduct up to 25 draws this year and plans on meeting its immigration targets 285,000 under the 2015 immigration plan. Of that, it is expected that over 180,000 will be selected under the Express Entry system. Future draws are expected to occur more frequently and the government is expected to issue a much greater number of invitations to apply to a wider array of candidates in the Express Entry pool.

CIC expects that a significant proportion of invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence will be issued to people without job offers from Canadian employers as there simply are not enough people with validated job offers or provincial nominations to fill the need for skilled immigrants.

Alex Khadempour, senior immigration consultant at CICS Immigration Consulting Inc. advises: “If you’re planning to apply under Express Entry, do it as soon as you can show that you are qualified for one of the economic programs. This includes having your IELTS test score, and if trying to qualify under Federal Skilled Worker, your Education Credential Assessment. However, it’s important that you don’t rush into the first step of the process, as this is where you need to make sure that you are able to present the best possible and strongest application with your work experience as the focal point. Mistakes at the beginning of the process can severely damage your following plans.”

Express Entry – How It Works and the Ranking System

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Express Entry

Express Entry will manage applications for permanent residence under these federal economic immigration programs:

Provinces and territories will also be able to recruit candidates from the Express Entry system through their Provincial Nominee Programs to meet local labour market needs.

Ministerial Instructions set out the rules for governing the Express Entry application management system.

The Express Entry system has two steps:

Step 1) Potential candidates complete an online Express Entry profile

Potential candidates will complete an online Express Entry profile. This is a secure form that they will use to provide information about their:

  • skills,
  • work experience,
  • language ability,
  • education, and
  • other details that will help us assess them.

Those who meet the criteria of one of the federal immigration programs listed above will be accepted into a pool of candidates.

Anyone who does not already have a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) (if you need one), or a nomination from a province or territory, must register with Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) Job Bank. Job Bank will help connect Express Entry candidates with eligible employers in Canada.

Candidates are also encouraged to promote themselves to employers in other ways, such as using job boards, recruiters etc.

In most cases when there is a job being offered to a candidate, employers will need an LMIA from ESDC. The LMIA process ensures employers have made an effort to hire Canadians for available jobs. There will be no LMIA fee for permanent resident applications.

Step 2) The highest-ranking candidates in the pool will be invited to apply for permanent residence

Candidates will be ranked against others in the pool using a point-based system called the Comprehensive Ranking System. Points are awarded using the information in their profile.

Candidates with the highest scores in the pool will be issued an Invitation to Apply. Candidates will be awarded points for:

  • a job offer, and/or
  • a nomination from a province or territory, and/or
  • skills and experience factors.

A candidate can get additional points for:

  • a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment, or
  • a nomination by a province or territory

These additional points will make a candidate rank high enough to be invited to apply at the next eligible draw of candidates.

If someone is invited to apply, they will have 60 days to submit an online application for permanent residence.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will process the majority of complete applications (meaning those with all the necessary supporting documents) in six months or less.

Candidates can stay in the pool for up to 12 months. If they do not get an Invitation to Apply for permanent residence within 12 months of submitting an Express Entry profile, they may submit a new profile. If they still meet the criteria, they can re-enter the pool. This will prevent backlogs and ensure quick processing times.

Express Entry – Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria

A) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates
A. Core / human capital factors Points per factor – With a spouse or common-law partner Points per factor – Without a spouse or common-law partner
Age 100 110
Level of education 140 150
Official languages proficiency 150 160
Canadian work experience 70 80
B) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates
B. Spouse or common-law partner factors Maximum 40 points
Level of education 10
Official language proficiency 20
Canadian Work Experience 10
A. Core/human capital + B. Spouse or common-law partner factors Maximum 500 points (with a spouse or common-law partner) Maximum 500 points (without a spouse or common-law partner)
C) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates
C. Skill Transferability factors Maximum 100 points
Education Maximum 50 points
With good/strong official languages proficiency and a post-secondary degree 50
With Canadian work experience and a post-secondary degree 50
Foreign work experience Maximum 50 points
With good/strong official languages proficiency and foreign work experience 50
With Canadian work experience and foreign work experience 50
Certificate of qualification (for people in trade occupations) Maximum 50 points
With good/strong official languages proficiency and a certificate of qualification 50
A. Core/human capital + B. Spouse or common-law partner + C. Transferability factors Maximum 600 points
D) Summary of points per factor for Express Entry candidates
D. Additional points (maximum 600)
Arranged employment 600
PN nomination 600
A. Core/human capital + B. Spouse or common-law partner factors + C. Transferability factors + D. = Grand total – 1,200

CRS – Core factors

Core / human capital factors With a spouse or common-law partner (Maximum 460 points) Without a spouse or common-law partner (Maximum 500 points)
Age Number of points (100 maximum) Number of points (110 maximum)
17 years of age or less 0 0
18 years of age 90 99
19 years of age 95 105
20 to 29 years of age 100 110
30 years of age 95 105
31 years of age 90 99
32 years of age 85 94
33 years of age 80 88
34 years of age 75 83
35 years of age 70 77
36 years of age 65 72
37 years of age 60 66
38 years of age 55 61
39 years of age 50 55
40 years of age 45 50
41 years of age 35 39
42 years of age 25 28
43 years of age 15 17
44 years of age 5 6
45 years of age or more 0 0
Level of Education With a spouse or common-law partner – Number of points (140 maximum) Without a spouse or common-law partner – Number of points (150 maximum)
Less than Secondary school (high school) credential 0 0
Secondary school (high school) credential 28 30
One-year post-secondary program credential 84 90
Two-year post-secondary program credential 91 98
Post-secondary program credential of three years or longer 112 120
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer 119 128
University-level credential at the Master’s level OR an entry-to-practice professional degree. CIC only accepts as an entry-to-practice professional degree, those degrees issued in relation to an occupation listed at NOC Skill level A and for which licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required. 126 135
University-level credential at the Doctoral level 140 150
Official languages proficiency – first official language
Reading, writing, speaking and listening total points for each ability:

  • 32 with a spouse or common-law partner
  • 34 without a spouse or common-law partner
 With a spouse or common-law partnerMaximum 128 points Without a spouse or common-law partner Maximum 136 points
For each ability 32 34
Less than CLB 4 0 0
CLB 4 or 5 6 6
CLB 6 8 9
CLB 7 16 17
CLB 8 22 23
CLB 9 29 31
CLB 10 or more 32 34
Official languages proficiency – second official language
Reading, writing, speaking and listening total points for each ability:

  • 5.5 with a spouse or common-law partner
  • 6 without a spouse or common-law partner
 With a spouse or common-law partnerMaximum 22 points Without a spouse or common-law partner Maximum 24 points
For each ability 6 6
CLB 4 or less 0 0
CLB 5 or 6 1 1
CLB 7 or 8 3 3
CLB 9 or more 6 6
Canadian work experience With a spouse or common-law partnerMaximum 70 points Without a spouse or common-law partner Maximum 80 points
None or less than a year 0 0
1 year 35 40
2 years 46 53
3 years 56 64
4 years 63 72
5 years or more 70 80
Subtotal – Core / human capital factors Out of 460 points Out of 500 points

CRS – Spouse or common-law partner factors (if applicable)

Spouse or common-law partner factors With spouse or common-law partner – number of points per factor Without spouse or common-law partner (0 points – does not apply)
Spouse’s or common-law partner’s level of education 10 0
Less than secondary school (high school) credential 0
Secondary school (high school) credential 2
One-year post-secondary program credential 6
Two-year post-secondary program credential 7
Post-secondary program credential of three years or longer 8
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer 9
University-level credential at the Master’s level OR an entry-to-practice professional degree. CIC only accepts as an entry-to-practice professional degree, those degrees issued in relation to an occupation listed at NOC Skill level A and for which licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required. 10
University-level credential at the Doctoral level 10
Spouse’s or common-law partner’s official languages proficiency – first official languageReading, writing, speaking and listening– total points for each ability Maximum 20 points 0 (does not apply)
For each ability 5
CLB 4 or less 0
CLB 5 or 6 1
CLB 7 or 8 3
CLB 9 or more 5
Canadian work experience Maximum 10 points 0 (does not apply)
None or less than a year 0
1 year 5
2 years 7
3 years 8
4 years 9
5 years or more 10
Subtotal – Core / human capital + Spouse or common-law partner factors 500 500

CRS – Skill transferability factors

Skill Transferability factors Maximum 100 points for this section
Education Maximum 50 points for Education
With good official language proficiency and a post-secondary degree Maximum 50 points
Points for CLB 7 or more on all first official language abilities, one or more under 9 Points for CLB 9 or more on all four first official language abilities
Secondary school (high school) credential or less (levels 1 & 2) 0 0
Post-secondary program credential of one year or longer (levels 3,4 & 5) 13 25
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer (levels 6,7 & 8) 25 50
With Canadian work experience and a post-secondary degree Maximum 50 points
Points for education + 1 year of Canadian work experience Points for education + 2 years or more of Canadian work experience
Secondary school (high school) credential or less (levels 1 & 2) 0 0
Post-secondary program credential of one year or longer (levels 3,4 & 5) 13 25
Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer (levels 6,7 & 8) 25 50
Foreign work experience Maximum 50 points for Foreign work experience
With good official language proficiency and foreign work experience 50 points
Points for foreign work experience + CLB 7 or more on all first OL abilities, one or more under 9 Points for foreign work experience + CLB 9 or more on all four first OL abilities
No foreign work experience 0 0
1 or 2 years of foreign work experience 13 25
3 years or more of foreign work experience 25 50
With Canadian work experience and foreign work experience Maximum 50 points
Points for foreign work experience + 1 year of Canadian work experience Points for foreign work experience + 2 years or more of Canadian work experience
No foreign work experience 0 0
1 or 2 years of foreign work experience 13 25
3 years or more of foreign work experience 25 50
Certificate of qualification (trade occupations) Maximum 50 points for this section
With good official language proficiency and a certificate of qualification Maximum 50 points
Points for certificate of qualification + CLB 5 or more on all first OL abilities, one or more under 7 Points for certificate of qualification + CLB 7 or more on all four first OL abilities
With a certificate of qualification 25 50
Subtotal:
A. Core + B. Spouse or common-law partner + C. Skill transferability factors		 600
Additional points Maximum 600 points
1) Arranged employment OR 600
2) Provincial or territorial nomination 600
Grand total Maximum 1,200 points

Canada’s skills gap continues to widen, according to study

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Skilled Workers are high in demand all over the world, including Canada.
Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

According to a new study from global recruiting firm Hays PLC, which surveyed the skills gap in 30 developed countries around the world, Canada ranks ninth for the severity of its skills shortage, and its score deteriorated in the past year.

Countries such as Japan, the United States, Germany and Sweden top the list in skilled worker shortage.

The report highlights two key findings

First, the state and the efficiency of a labour market in any particular country is not necessarily driven by the state of the economy in that point in time. Rather, the data suggests through the index that the efficiency of the labour market is driven by more structural factors. That said, the governments can introduce reforms to improve those structural factors, regardless of where they are in the economic cycle.

The second key finding that the index illustrates is that there is a very strong link between the efficiency of an educational system and the ability of that economy to produce the talent that the nation’s industries require both today and in the future. Making sure that business and the educational systems are in sync to produce sufficient numbers of the right quality graduates in the right areas for future talent. That’s the fundamental part of what drives the efficiency in any particular market.

As the global economy recovers and as the Canadian work force continues to age, without a change in policy, the situation in Canada and other developed countries will likely get worse. Canada is falling behind in implementing enough changes to meet the demand for highly skilled migration.

How to improve the skilled worker shortage and avoid disaster in the future

As according to Alistair Cox, the chief executive of Hays PLC, there are three areas where business and the governments can work together to strengthen these labour markets and reduce these inefficiencies that we see in some of these economies:

The first is for the government to foster a business environment of flexibilities, where businesses can build the work force they need for the future. This can be achieved through flexible working arrangements and skilled immigration.

The second method is to make sure that the educational system in an economy are really tuned into what businesses are going to need in the future in terms of the number of right skills.

The third is for businesses to look at their own policy in terms of attracting and retaining staff. Not just younger staff but also retaining and retraining older staff within their own work force.

Immigration Canada making changes

It’s not yet known how effective it will be, however, Canada is working on some changes in the system that are expected to be implemented in late 2014. Last year, Immigration Canada and the provinces, reached an agreement on the future of Canadian immigration system. The system will give the provinces a central role in immigrant selection. This new system will be based on a model called Expression of Interest (EOI).

The EOI model is an immigrant selection process which requires those seeking to immigrate to first file a simplified application, with immigration authorities. From that pool of applicants, the most promising candidates, based on the immigration department’s selection criteria, are then selected, and invited to submit a full application which includes documentation to prove their claimed qualifications.

Canada’s Immigration Backlog Reduced by 40 Percent

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Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced on Tuesday that his department had reduced the backlog of permanent resident applications by forty percent since 2008 (Citizenship and Immigration Canada)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) backlog of permanent resident applications has declined by forty percent since 2008, according to a CIC announcement on Tuesday.

A freeze in the acceptance of new Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Immigrant Investor applications, in place since July 2012, and an indefinite suspension of the parent and grandparent sponsorship stream of the Family Class immigration program, have reduced the rate at which CIC is receiving new permanent resident applications and allowed it to work through the backlog.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney applauded the development in a press conference, saying a reduced backlog would allow for a faster and better immigration system:

“Backlogs and delays prevent Canada from attracting the best and brightest from around the world and ensuring that our immigration system is contributing to economic growth and long-term prosperity. For too long, we accepted far more applications than we could process each year. That led to backlogs increasing every year and processing times of eight to ten years in some cases, which discouraged talented, dynamic people from coming to Canada.”

CIC’s goal is to reduce processing times of applications for permanent residence to less than one year, from the sometimes over five years that it has taken in recent years.

The eventual goal is to put in place an Expression of Interest (EOI) model by the end of 2014, which will solicit simplified applications from foreign nationals interested in immigrating to Canada and invite the most promising applicants to submit a full application.

Federal, Provincial Governments Reach Agreement on Future Canadian Immigration System

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Provincial immigration ministers met over two days in Toronto last week to discuss details of the new Expression of Interest (EOI) immigration system (Citizenship and Immigration Canada)

Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments concluded two days of meetings on Friday with an agreement on the future of Canada’s immigration system which will give the provinces a central role in immigrant selection.

On the agenda for the FPT immigration ministers were the details of the upcoming Expression of Interest (EOI) model for the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, which Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is planning to implement by the end of 2014.

The EOI model is an immigrant selection process which requires those seeking to immigrate to first file a simplified application, or “Expression of Interest”, with immigration authorities.

From that pool of applicants, the most promising candidates, based on the immigration department’s selection criteria, are then selected, and invited to submit a full application with includes documentation to prove their claimed qualifications.

The EOI model was first adopted by New Zealand and then more recently by Australia. CIC believes it holds the promise of eliminating the application back-logs that have plagued Canada’s immigration department over the last decade while admitting immigrants with the language, education, age and skill profiles needed to be successful in the Canadian labour market.

The FPT meeting, which was attended by all provincial and territorial immigration minister with the exception of the immigration minister of Quebec, gave unanimous approval for an EOI model for Canada in which provinces and employers select the most promising candidates from the list of EOI applicants, who are then selected to be among the limited number of applicants to be invited to submit a full application.

Co-Chairing the FPT Meeting was Alberta Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education, Stephen Khan, who voiced the provincial ministers’ support for the plan:

“On behalf of the provinces and territories, we look forward to continuing our work with the Government of Canada to transform the immigration system, making it faster and more responsive to provincial/territorial needs.”

Immigration Department: 1 Year Canadian Experience Class Launching Jan 2013

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Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney tweeted more details in recent days about coming changes to the Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Worker programs

The length of time that a temporary foreign worker needs to have worked full-time in the Canada to qualify for permanent residence under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) immigration program will be reduced from 24 months to 12 months in January 2013, according to a tweet by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

The long expected change in the CEC program’s work experience requirement is intended to increase the share of immigrants that come through the program, as Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) considers immigrants with Canadian work experience as more likely to be successful in integrating into Canada’s labour market than those who are admitted under more traditional routes like the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program.

The announcement on the date of the CEC program rule change was made in a response to a tweet directed to Kenney, who is quite active on the micro-blogging site, on November 5th:

@KaushikJay The new 1 year threshold for high-skilled temporary foreign workers to qualify for CDN Experience Class will start January, 2013

In a series of tweets on November 4th, Kenney also described when and in what form the revamped FSW program will be launched.

He posted that the final details for the relaunched program would be released in the “1st half of 2013” and that there would only be “a very limited number of new applications” accepted in 2013, to help CIC “asses [sic] the new grid & educational evaluation”.

He also posted that CIC’s goal was to launch the new Expression of Interest model for the FSW program “around late 2014 / early 2015”.

CIC placed a moratorium on accepting new applications through the FSW program in July 2012, to give it time to deal with the program’s pending application backlog and to design new selection rules and assessment procedures that it says will make the program more economically beneficial for Canada and its application review process faster.

Canadian Immigration Department Details its Achievements, Expects Reduction in Wait Times

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CIC plans to adopt an Expression of Interest (EOI) model for the Federal Skilled Worker Program similar to that in place in New Zealand.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) summarized what it considers the successes of its reforms in recent years in a press release on Friday. CIC said that it expects that by the end of 2013, it will be able to process applications as they are received, and complete their processing within one year.

It said that this will open the door to the adoption of the Expression of Interest (EOI) model for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and possibly other economic immigration streams.

The EOI model requires applicants to submit a simplified preliminary application detailing their qualifications, and allowing provinces and employers to select the most promising of those applicants, who are then invited by CIC to submit a full application that includes documents proving their qualifications.

“The Government’s number one priority remains the economy and job growth. Immigration backlogs are detrimental to our ability to attract the world’s top talent,” said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in describing the purpose of moving to a “just in time” EOI system of immigration admittance.

“With the decisive actions we’ve taken to tackle the backlog, we will finally be able to select immigrants who better meet the needs of the Canadian labour market. We will aim to process their applications in less than 12 months.”

CIC also detailed the measures it has taken in recent years to address a problem that has long afflicted the FSWP: the large volume of applications that exceed the program’s annual quota and lead to wait times as high as eight years:

  • In 2008, only accepting FSW applications from individuals qualified in an occupation on the “priority occupations” list.
  • In 2010, adding a quota to the number of new applications accepted.
  • In June 2012, eliminating most of the FSW applications on the backlog that were received before February 27, 2008.
  • In July 2012, temporarily pausing acceptance of new FSW applications, except for applicants with a qualifying job offer and those applying under the PhD stream.

These measures, said CIC, have reduced the FSWP backlog from 640,000 people in 2008 to 100,000 today.

CIC plans to re-start the FSWP in 2013, and admit 55,300 people over the year, approximately the same as the 55,000–57,000 quota for the program in 2012. It said that new rules for a revamped FSWP will be published later this year.