Maple News reports that category-based selection draws under Canada’s Express Entry system are offering promising opportunities to immigration candidates whose Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores fall below the 500 mark—a threshold that general and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws have consistently maintained throughout 2024.
Introduced by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2023, category-based draws aim to attract candidates with specific skill sets aligned with Canada’s economic and demographic priorities. These targeted draws have enabled lower CRS cutoffs, making it easier for qualified applicants in priority sectors to receive Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residence.
As of 2024, the six key categories under this system include:
– French-language proficiency;
– Healthcare occupations;
– Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) occupations;
– Trade occupations;
– Transport occupations;
– Agriculture and agri-food occupations.
To qualify for a category-based selection draw, candidates must have at least six months of continuous, full-time work experience (or an equivalent amount of part-time experience) in the designated occupation within the past three years. This experience can be gained either in Canada or abroad. For French-language proficiency draws, applicants must demonstrate a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of at least 7 in all components of the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC).
The strategic targeting has opened the door for many skilled professionals who would otherwise struggle to meet the high CRS benchmark in general draws. For example, a fictional candidate named Ahmad, a 32-year-old aircraft assembly inspector with a master’s degree in aviation technology and CLB 9 level English proficiency, would be eligible under the transport occupations category—despite a CRS score below 500.
IRCC’s focus on category-based draws signals a more nuanced approach to immigration, prioritizing both language proficiency and critical labor market needs. This approach benefits not only individual applicants but also the Canadian economy, which continues to face skilled labor shortages in several key sectors.
According to Maple News, this trend is expected to continue as Canada fine-tunes its immigration policies to stay responsive to real-time workforce demands while offering fairer access to permanent residency for skilled professionals around the world.