Annual Express Entry report released by IRCC

According to this new end-of-year edition of the 2023 Express Entry Year-End report, the number of Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in 2023 rose to more than twice that issued in 2022.

In the period January 11th and December 21st, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had made a total of 110,266 ITAs through forty-two Express Entry draws. This is an increase of 136% over last year’s figure which stood at 46,539.

There were a total of 488,571 profiles submitted altogether. Out of these, while some also got rejected as they were not qualified and remained at 144,696 (33%) other profiles went through after passing the qualification threshold that was set at 343,875 (67%).

Express Entry is a management system for certain Canadian economic immigration programs- Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), The Canadian Experience Class(CEC) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program(FSTP). It utilizes the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to rate and rank candidates, providing each a score up to 1200. The high scorers will be in the best position to get an ITA.

Additionally, 2023 was the year of category based selection draws. These draws are program specific, meaning candidates who have submitted profiles (EE Profiles) in any of the three categories but being selected either for their job title or just language ability.

Who got ITAs?

Programs

Further, 40,052 ITAs were issued to candidates under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) while an additional of only 8 being issued remains for FSWP. The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) followed, issuing 26,445 ITAs and the FSWP issued a further 17,898 ITA.DataGridViewTextBoxColumn.

However, only 8 ITAs were issued to FSTP candidates by IRCC. But then, which programs are all 3s for is not clear since IRCC does processing hierarchy and choses the program to issue ITA under. Eligible candidates under both the CEC and FSTP would be invited through the latter, as per this hierarchy. This hierarchy could perhaps explain the few ITA issued under the FSTP.

CRS scores

The vast majority of candidates who entered the pool so far, with 93 per cent having a CRS score between 300 and an inconclusive figure.

All-program (generic) draws with category-based selection resulted in an average CRS score that was above 500.

Gender

On the whole, far more Express Entry applicants were men: 81.2 per cent. In fact, 57% of ITAs that were issued went to males and 43 % to females. Men received the majority of ITAs under both CEC (52%) and PNP programs by program. In 2022, women somewhat more likely to receive an ITA through the FSWP (33% vs. 22%)

Occupation

A candidate’s work experience factors into their eligibility for Express Entry. Some occupations are more in-demand or more likely to receive an ITA.

In 2023, A significant number of ITAs went to Express Entry candidates in computer, tech, and finance occupations. However, 48% of all ITAs went to candidates in “other” occupations not listed in the report.

For the second time in a row, software engineers and designers were the most likely to receive an ITA (7,259) followed by software developers and programmers (5,183).

Among the 15 occupations listed in the report, 10 of them are classified as TEER 1 under the  (NOC) system .

Countries of residence and citizenship

As seen in 2022, most candidates who received ITAs in 2023 listed Canada  as their country of residence (76,791). India once again fell into the second spot (7,394).

Of interest, Cameroon moved into the third highest number of ITAs (3,828) by just six ITAs more than Nigeria (3,822).

Lebanon is no longer in the top ten, while Pakistan received 1,173 ITAs despite not appearing in the top 10 countries in 2022.