It’s been a year after the last FSWP, Express Entry Draw.

by aman sharma Canada Immigration,Canada PR Visa

Candidates for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) were chosen from the Express Entry pool for the final time on December 23, 2020.

The majority of us were unaware that this would signal the start of a temporary suspension of Express Entry invites for FSWP applicants.

Since its inception in 1967, the FSWP has been Canada's most popular avenue for low-income immigrants. The Canadian Experience Class was launched by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2008 to complement the FSWP (CEC). The CEC's goal is to create a specific immigration path for persons who have worked in Canada (namely international students and temporary foreign workers). The Federal Skilled Crafts Program (FSTP) was established by IRCC in 2013 to provide an immigration pathway for skilled trade’s professionals.

To coordinate these three programs, IRCC established Express Entry in 2015. Anyone who met the requirements of an Express Entry-managed program could construct a profile and earn a CRS score based on human capital indicators like age, education, English and/or French language skills, work experience, and Canadian experience, among other things. IRCC would send invitations to the highest-scoring candidates every two weeks to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

The justification for Express Entry was that it would allow IRCC to process applications more rapidly (because they only had to process those who had been invited, rather than assessing every single application), and it would provide new immigrants a greater chance to integrate into the Canadian economy (since IRCC was skimming the top to invite the highest scoring candidates).

To coordinate these three programs, IRCC established Express Entry in 2015. Anyone who met the requirements of an Express Entry-managed program could construct a profile and earn a CRS score based on human capital indicators like age, education, English and/or French language skills, work experience, and Canadian experience, among other things. Every two weeks, the IRCC would send invitations to the top-scoring individuals apply for permanent residency in Canada.

The justification for Express Entry was that it would allow IRCC to process applications more rapidly (because they only had to process those who had been invited, rather than assessing every single application), and it would provide new immigrants a greater chance to integrate into the Canadian economy (since IRCC was skimming the top to invite the highest scoring candidates).

As of this year, the plan has mainly involved inviting CEC candidates rather than considering all candidates via Express Entry, including the historic February 13 draw that invited all 27,332 candidates from the CEC pool. The idea also included implementing a one-time special public policy that would allow up to 90,000 vital employees and international graduates to apply for permanent residency in Canada.

FSWP candidate candidates were excluded from Express Entry lotteries for the upcoming year for reasons that have been disputed. Realistically, as a variety of developments continue to unfold, such as the worldwide pandemic situation, IRCC's future policy decisions and operating capabilities, and Canada's labor market, as we discuss Express Entry immigrants' economic integration, we'll have plenty of opportunities to argue its merits. To summarize, we will most likely need years to adequately examine the consequences of this choice.

Nonetheless, based on the information we have today, it is worthwhile to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the option.

The advantages of excluding FSWP candidates

IRCC is on track to meet its newcomer goal for the year, as it already welcomes over 45,000 new permanent residents each month and has welcomed over 360,000 immigrants in the first eleven months of 2021. As a result, IRCC will claim that making the difficult decision to exclude FSWP candidates allowed it to get a higher level of permanent residence in a difficult operating environment.

Another advantage is that, according to Statistics Canada, persons with Canadian work experience integrate effectively into the labour market once they become permanent residents. In addition to domestic job experience, individuals can enhance their language skills and networks while in Canada as temporary residents, which will help them find work after they arrive.

Third, throughout the epidemic, Canada has had labour shortages, and IRCC's concentration on Canadian candidates has allowed the country to take a more targeted approach to alleviating shortages, particularly in critical occupations. IRCC would have been unable to grant permanent residency to many crucial workers if they did not exclude FSWP candidates this year.

The disadvantages of excluding FSWP candidates

However, it is possible to argue that IRCC reached its 401,000 newcomer target, while also inviting FSWP candidates. The reason for this is that there is typically a one-year or longer lag between when an FSWP candidate is accepted and when they physically arrive in Canada. As a result, in the second half of the year, IRCC could have started issuing Express Entry invites to FSWP candidates while simultaneously landing as many in-Canada applications as possible to meet its 2021 levels plan target. In reality, according to an internal IRCC memo, the department considered this alternative, although it is unclear why they did not go ahead with it.

The decision has also harmed transparency and trust between FSWP candidates and the IRCC. The Canadian government and IRCC pride themselves on being as open and transparent as possible, however FSWP candidates have received little information about IRCC's Express Entry plans beyond 2021. This is significant since many FSWP hopefuls applied to the Express Entry pool in earnest this year, hoping to be chosen, but were turned down. In other words, IRCC invites them to the restaurant, but will not offer them food. Perhaps a more effective method would have been for IRCC to be more open about its objectives, allowing FSWP applicants to evaluate other options. Because language test scores are only valid for two years and Educational Competency Assessments (ECA) is valid for five years, the choice to omit them may have a detrimental impact on some candidates. In the big scheme of things, retaking a language exam or filing for another ECA isn't the end of the world, but IRCC should have given FSWP candidates advance warning so they could avoid any potential delays in their quest for permanent residence in Canada.

The IRCC undercutting the policy basis for Express Entry in the first place is a third disadvantage. IRCC was proud of the evidence-based methodology utilized to develop the Comprehensive Ranking System when Express Entry was launched in 2015. The CRS, according to the IRCC, was created by many years of longitudinal data on immigrant labour market performance gathered and evaluated by Statistics Canada. As a result, the CRS score was designed to reward candidates who are younger, have more education, work experience, language ability, and Canadian experience, as well as those who may have other advantages, such as a job offer from Canada or siblings who live in Canada.

However, because IRCC has only been inviting individual’s eligible for the CEC and the Provincial Nominee Program, with the decision to remove FSWP applicants, all of this has been thrown out the window (some PNP streams are aligned with Express Entry).  As a result, the CRS score criteria have been lowered, allowing IRCC to reach its objective of 401,000 newcomers. This flexible approach is admirable, but it may come at a price. That is, individuals who received permanent residence invites in 2021 with lower CRS scores may have poorer labour market results than those who would have received invitations under more typical circumstances (CRS scores rather than by meeting CEC eligibility criteria invites an applicant that is, by having one of the highest scores).

The IRCC has constantly emphasized that Express Entry is intended to be used in the long run. According to IRCC, admitting candidates with the highest CRS scores is a smart strategy since their excellent human capital will allow them to adapt to the changing nature of the Canadian labor market. While this is an extreme case, it illustrates the decision IRCC made: in order to meet its 2021 levels objective, the department judged that inviting a CEC candidate with a CRS score of 75 (as in the February 13 draw) was more important than inviting an FSWP candidate with a CRS score of 470 (The rough cut-off requirement prior to this year)

Another disadvantage, as cited by IRCC, is that focusing on Canadian applicants has exacerbated backlogs, as IRCC has been processing permanent residence applications of individuals from other countries at a slower pace.

Looking forward

Given IRCC's lack of transparency regarding its Express Entry plans, it's impossible to say when invitations to FSWP candidates will resume. There are a few things you should remember.

In order to reduce its backlog, IRCC has begun eliminating CEC candidates from draws since September. Before admitting FSWP, CEC, or Federal Skilled Trades Program candidates again, the agency has stated that it aims to cut Express Entry backlogs in half. IRCC could be in this position by the first half of 2022, based on its recent application processing pace.

Given how important FSWP candidates are as a source of talent, IRCC will eventually need to resume invitations to them. They accounted for 45 percent of all invited candidates in 2019 and 85 percent of all candidates in the Express Entry pool in recent months, as previously reported. IRCC may soon run out of CEC candidates to invite, and may have already done so.

Another crucial consideration is that the IRCC is vital to Canada's economic prosperity. The department helps permanent citizens from other countries come to Canada, which helps the country's population, labour force, and economic growth. However, the epidemic has hampered international arrivals, contributing to Canada's slowest population growth in over a century. Furthermore, for a variety of reasons, including a dearth of fresh workers from abroad, the country is seeing some of the greatest job vacancy levels on record. As a result, resuming FSWP draws will be critical to Canada's economic growth goals.

Finally, while it made sense to remove FSWP applicants from drawings when Canada imposed harsher travel limits, it no longer makes sense to do so now that Canada has lifted travel restrictions on all holders of Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) in June. Despite the fact that COVID cases are on the rise around the world, Canadian government travel restrictions do not currently prohibit FSWP applicants with COPRs from entering the country. And, as previously stated, it takes an average of one year from the time an FSWP receives an invitation to the time they arrive in Canada, so pandemic uncertainty should not be the primary reason for continuing to decline FSWP invitations because none of us knows what the world has in store for us in a year or so.

To summarize, there appears to be a compelling rationale for IRCC to begin FSWP candidate invitations in 2022.

For more info, please Call: +91-7503832132, +91-9131059075, Write to us at: info@aptechvisa.com Or Fill Free Canada Immigration Assessment Form

Sponsor Ads

• Ad Space Available - Rent it Now!

Created on Jan 11th 2022 04:35. Viewed 213 times.

Comments