Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced on February 2 that the first round of top-ranked candidates from Canada’s Express Entry system is already helping to fill demonstrated and verifiable gaps in Canada’s labour market. On January 31, 779 skilled workers, including professionals in natural and applied sciences, and industrial, electrical and construction trades, were invited to apply for permanent residency in Canada. Each of these candidates declared that they already have a valid job offer or provincial nomination.
Under Express Entry, skilled workers who want to apply to Canada’s key economic immigration programs are able to create an online profile and express their interest in coming to Canada permanently.
Candidates who are accepted into the pool are ranked according to various factors, including language proficiency, education and work experience. Each is a leading indicator of one’s likelihood of integrating fully and quickly into Canadian society and making an optimal contribution to the economy.
Canada will regularly invite the highest-ranking candidates from the pool to apply to immigrate. With most applications being processed in six months or less, candidates will be able to contribute toCanada’s economy and job market more quickly than ever before.
“Express Entry is already getting impressive results in its first month. The fact that everyone who was invited to apply for permanent residence in this round of invitations already has a valid job offer or provincial nomination shows that Express Entry is working to fill Canada’s existing labour market gaps,” Alexander said in Ottawa.
The immigration minister also said: “With Express Entry, highly skilled candidates with a high chance of success in Canada are invited to apply for permanent residence, bringing them to Canada more quickly and easily than ever before.”
Express Entry will manage applications for three federal economic immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class.
Provinces and territories will be able to use the Express Entry system to select a portion of candidates for their Provincial Nominee Programs.
Once candidates have been invited to apply for permanent residence, they will need to submit a complete application and will have to meet eligibility and admissibility requirements such as health and security checks. Candidates will have up to 60 days to submit their application online.