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Indians received the highest number of Express Entry invitations in 2018, says the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)’s 2018 year-end report for the Express Entry system. According to the report, of the total number of Invitations to Apply for permanent residence issued, 41,675 ITAs, which means around 46 per cent, went to Indian citizens. China came second with 6,248 ITAs, followed by Nigeria, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.
Canada admitted more than 92000 new permanent residents through Express Entry system in 2018, says the report. This shows a 41 per cent increase in the number of immigrants admitted through the system compared to last year. This phenomenal increase can be attributed to the increased admission targets for the three Federal High Skilled economic-class immigration programs managed by the system — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class and also the immigration streams of Provincial Nominee Programs that are aligned to the federal Express Entry system.
Many of the candidates who are invited to apply for permanent residence in the Express Entry draws are admitted the next year. So IRCC attributes this rise in the number of new admissions through Express Entry to the candidates who were invited in 2017 but admitted in 2018. Admissions include principal applicants as well as their accompanying family members.
Express Entry invitations for economic immigration programs
The Express Entry system manages applications for Canada migration through the three federal economic immigration programs–the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class. According to the year-end report, around 280,000 Express Entry profiles were submitted in 2018. Out of these, 70 per cent were found to be eligible for at least one of the three Federal High Skilled programs. Candidates of Federal Skilled Worker Class received 53 per cent of the total ITAs issued through Express Entry in 2018(47,523 of 89,800 ITAs). While Canadian Experience Class received the second highest number of ITAs in 2018 at 30571, Federal Skilled Trades Class candidates received 904 ITAs.
Express Entry Invitations for PNPs
Express Entry candidates with provincial nomination amounted to 12 per cent of all the ITAs issued in 2018. The total number of provincial nominees who received ITAs was 10802, compared to 8733 in 2017. The number of new permanent residents admitted through Express Entry-aligned PNPs was also high in 2018. PNPs of Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and British Columbia witnessed a rise this category. The biggest increase was witnessed by Ontario, with an year-over-year increase of 3,082. Of the 122,247 applications received through Express Entry in 2018, 78,838 had Ontario listed as their province of destination. British Columbia came second with 22,153 applicants listing it as their destination. Alberta (8,868) came third followed by Saskatchewan (3,708) and Nova Scotia (3,532).
Software Engineers in high demand
The most common occupation among those who received ITAs in 2018 was software engineer. In the previous year, the highest demand was for Information Systems Analysts and Consultants and in 2018, it fell into second place. The third most common occupation was computer programmer, followed by financial auditors and administrative assistants.
Human capital factors
51 per cent of Express Entry candidates who received an ITAs in 2018 were in the age group of 20 and 29, shows the IRCC data. While 48 per cent had a Master’s degree or entry-to-practice professional degree, 42 per cent had a post-secondary qualification of three years or longer. While 60 per cent of the candidates had no Canadian work experience, 39 per cent had foreign work experience of five years or more.
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