Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has an annual target number of immigrants they plan to allow into Canada. For 2015, this number is between 260,000 and 285,000 – which is a rough number rather than a quota. CIC is seeking to select about 65% of this number as economic applicants. The initial plan was to make this selection (roughly 185,000 economic immigrants) via the new Express Entry system. So, why hasn’t CIC been as aggressive selecting applicants via Express Entry?
1. One of the main problems is the backlog of applications – those applications received by CIC prior to December 31, 2014. CIC anticipates that more than 50% of 2015 economic immigrants will be drawn from these backlogged applicants. Therefore, in fact, fewer than 90,000 new applicants will be obtained by CIC via Express Entry; if you take into account any provincial nominee programs that are outside of the Express Entry system, the number is much less than 90,000 applicants.
2. Furthermore, CIC anticipates drawing applicants at least 15 times in 2015 and up to 25 times. If 15 is the more accurate number of draws, then CIC has already completed more than 50% of draws – 8 out 15.
3. Finally, a number of provinces, including Ontario, have not yet finalized their procedures for incorporating their respective provincial nominee programs into Express Entry. With all these factors, CIC is cautious as to when to make a next draw and how many applicants to invite because they want to meet their promise of “6 months or less processing time” under the Express Entry system.
The bottom line is that you should not be overly concerned about when and how CIC will conduct their draws. Instead, focus on making your express entry profile as positive and accurate as possible and seek ways to improve your comprehensive ranking score to make it higher than your current score.
This information reflects the general status of Express Entry applications as of May 11, 2015. Interested applicants should check their case-specific and date-specific criteria to obtain an accurate assessment of their individual application.
If you have any individual questions or concerns, please contact our office for more customized consultation for your unique situation. Please note that this posting is for general information only and is not to be considered binding or official legal counsel since situations will vary and can be complicated. The content in this post is current as of the day of entry. Due to the changing nature of Immigration law, the information in this entry may or may not still be applicable.