Express Entry draws for Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates have been formally paused, according to an internal memo from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

No date has been set for the return of the FSW and CEC draws

The IRCC memo does not specify when FSW and CEC draws will resume, but it indicates that the pause will last until at least the end of March, after which IRCC will submit an internal "plan for future FHS intake to determine what timeline and volume will align with 2022 Multi-Year Levels Plan and processing time objectives." FHS stands for Federal High Skilled Immigration, which encompasses programmes such as FSW, CEC, and the Federal Skilled Trades (FST).

Draws are expected to resume before the end of 2022, according to the memo, which states that "minor rounds in late 2022" will be "needed to achieve 2023 levels." The memo does, however, mention the prospect of the draws starting sooner.

The memo, which was written in January and received by CICNews last week, adds to IRCC's prior communications about Express Entry in 2022, which suggested that FSW and CEC draws would be delayed for at least the first part of the year.

According to the memo, "the present FHS inventory (FSW and CEC combined equals to 75,000) would need to be decreased by more than half before allowing any new clients to apply" in order for FSW and CEC draws to commence. Approximately 54,000 FSW applications were awaiting processing in January, with another 21,000 CEC applications. In the months since this message was published, IRCC has made tremendous progress in lowering the backlog.

The backlog of Express Entry applications is being reduced

IRCC is drastically lowering the existing backlog of FSW and CEC applications, according to statistics acquired by CICNews lately. There were approximately 41,300 applications in the FSW backlog as of March 15, 2022. This is a drop of 24% from the figures in the IRCC memo. Meanwhile, the backlog of CEC applications has shrunk by more than half, from 21,000 to little over 10,000.

FSW and CEC draws are unlikely to restart until the Express Entry application backlog has been reduced by more than half, according to the IRCC memo. Based on current application processing progress, this goal might be met within the next several months, allowing FSW and CEC draws to restart sooner rather than later.

Canada's Minister of Immigration, Sean Fraser, stated in a recent interview that the country "would be resuming Federal Skilled Worker draws in the near future." While it's hard to know exactly what Minister Fraser means by "short term," the work being made on the backlog suggests that FSW and CEC draws might resume before July.

Why have the FSW and CEC draws been put on hold?

FSW drawings have been on hold since December 2020, because to COVID-19 travel restrictions that prevent most international nationals from entering Canada (most of these travel restrictions have since been lifted). Following an increase in the backlog of Canadian immigration petitions, CEC draws have been stopped since September 2021.

Express Entry candidates who have previously filed applications are also being impacted by the backlog of Canadian immigration applications. FSW and FST processing timeframes are now 22.4 months and are scheduled to increase to 36 months in 2022. These applications will be processed in six months or less, according to the IRCC. Candidates for the CEC are significantly closer to meeting the processing criteria, with applications taking an average of 7.2 months to process.

IRCC issued its updated Immigration Levels Plan for 2022-2024 in February 2022. Targets for Express Entry admissions in 2022 were cut by nearly half, to 55,900, under this proposal. To handle a backlog of applications through the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence pathway (TR2PR)—a special immigration programme for vital workers and graduates developed during the pandemic—as well as the resettlement of Afghan refugees, Express Entry objectives were cut.

The lowering in Express Entry objectives is just for a limited time. In reality, Express Entry admissions will be at an all-time high by 2024, but 2022 will be a relatively quiet year for the popular immigration route.

In fact, IRCC could reach its objectives in 2022 without conducting any new FSW or CEC draws by merely processing already filed applications from its backlog. IRCC had around 75,000 Express Entry applications in its inventory at the start of 2022, which was nearly 20,000 applications over than the year's admissions objective.

Candidates for Express Entry in Canada who are concerned about their work permits expiring

Due to the current gap in CEC invites, many Express Entry applicants residing in Canada are anxious that their work permits would expire before they are invited. While the newly released IRCC email notes these CEC candidates' concerns, the agency currently has no public plan in place to invite them or extend their work visas.

"Candidates in the pool, including those with work permits that are about to expire, will continue to experience uncertainty about their chances of obtaining an invitation to apply in the near future," according to the memo. Even if CEC draws were returned promptly, "many of the clients with expired work permits would not be invited," according to the memo, since the "minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score required to obtain an invitation to apply would likely grow beyond 500 and remain high."

Every two weeks, the IRCC will invite provincial nominees from the Express Entry pool.

The latest IRCC document makes no guarantees regarding when FSW and CEC drawings will restart. However, given the progress being made on the Express Entry application backlog and the increased pressure from Express Entry candidates, drawings may start sooner rather than later. Candidates should also take comfort in the knowledge that the Express Entry slowdown is just temporary, with longer-term policy indicating that FSW and CEC would be ramped up in the coming years.

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