Canada has more than 150,000 FSWP candidates despite the program being paused

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), shows that there are 154,000 FSWP candidates in Canada despite the program being halted.

IRCC's snapshot of the Express Entry pool

Due to the lack of draws in the Express Entry pool, the number of Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates were swelled up.

IRCC has given the break-up for 194,000 candidates in the following table:

Immigration Category	Number of Candidates
Canadian Experience Class Candidates	38,223
Provincial/Territorial Nominee Candidates	344
Federal Skilled Worker Program Candidates	154,421
Federal Skilled Trades Program Candidates	577
Grand Total	193,565

Since December 2020, IRCC has not invited FSWP candidates to apply for permanent residence. Because of this, 80% of Express Entry candidates in the pool are eligible and waiting for the FSWP. Comparatively, in 2019 45 percent of invitations were issued to FSWP candidates. But in 2020, Canada invited only CEC and PNP candidates for a few months.

While in 2021, IRCC targeted only CEC and PNP draws because the federal government had promised to land 401,000 newcomers to the country. Its strategy is to focus on immigrants already in Canada.

After lifting the corona travel restrictions, the PNP and CEC draws were continued by the federal government.

In September 2021, IRCC halted CEC draws and continued holding only PNP draws in order to fulfill the immigration target. This is to help reduce application backlogs and get Express Entry processing back down to six months, whereas, in 2020, the average processing time was nine months. Due to the pause of CEC draws, the CEC eligible candidates were increased to 20 percent.

While in June 2021, the CEC candidates made up to 6 percent of the Express Entry pool because, at that time, IRCC was regularly holding  CEC and PNP draws. In June itself, 6000 CEC candidates were invited.

Number of Candidates in the Express Entry Pool as of June 29, 2021 by Immigration Category (in Persons)

Immigration Category	Number of Candidates
Canadian Experience Class Candidates	10,529
Provincial/Territorial Nominee Program Candidates	366
Federal Skilled Worker Program Candidates	153,062
Federal Skilled Trades Candidates	644
Grand Total	164,601

The pool has grown for both CEC and FSWP applicants within six months. The FSTP candidates were few in number because of the number of reasons. IRCC maintains a hierarchy in inviting candidates in the Express Entry pool who has eligibility for more than one program. The hierarchy followed is

• CEC
• FSWP
• FSTP

If the candidate is eligible for both CEC and FSTP, then IRCC will invite to apply as a CEC candidate, for instance.

Candidates should make a note that every Express Entry profile will have validity for one year in the pool. If the candidates are not invited during the validity period, then they are no longer counted in the pool. If the profile is expired, then the candidate can resubmit it if necessary. As there are no FSTP or FSWP draws in 2021, a few of the candidates who submitted their profiles in 2020 were expired.

In contrast to this, PNP candidates were usually guaranteed to be invited because these candidates will receive an additional 600 points for nomination. IRCC held PNP-specific draws throughout the pandemic even though the candidates were not in Canada. The provincial nominee program is designed by provinces and territories to support their immigration goals. The provinces and territories invite PNP candidates in order to meet the regional economic and population growth targets.

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