Indians Got Most Invitations for Canada’s Express Entry Program in 2017

The highest number of invitations for Canada’s Express Entry program were received by Indians in 2017, figures released by the Canadian government show.

Express Entry is Canada’s flagship application management system for key economic immigration programs. The number of invitations issued to Indians in 2017 was 36,310, a huge jump from 11,037 invitations issued in 2016. The total number of invitations issued for the program was 86,022, of which Indians received 42 percent, the Express Entry Year-end Report 2017 revealed.

China was ranked second with 7,466 invitations, while Nigeria acquired the third spot with 5,130 invitations issued. In 2016, India got 33 per cent of 33,782 invitations issued.

Express Entry facilitates a direct employer role in the immigration process. Employers may connect with foreign nationals through recruitment techniques like a job bank, private job boards, recruiters, or job fairs. Express Entry manages three programs — Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, and Federal Skilled Trades Program — that fall under the Federal High Skilled category.

The report showed that 109,497 applications were received for permanent residency under the Express Entry program in 2017. As many as 86,022 invitations were sent and a total of 65,401 permanent residents and their families were admitted into Canada.

“As of January 3, 2018, there were 71,087 active candidates in the Express Entry pool. Improvements made to Express Entry in November 2016 appear to have significant impact on the occupation mix of candidates that received an invitation,” the report added.

People from different fields received invitations in 2017. The highest number of invitations, totaling to 5,214, were sent to information systems analysts and consultants.

Software engineers were the second on this list, with 4,782 invitations in 2017, while computer programmers and interactive media developers received 3,479 invitations, and financial auditors and accountants got 2,386 invitations, the report added.

People involved in occupations such as advertising, marketing and public relations got 1,497 invitations while retail sales supervisors received 988 invitations.

“Preliminary admissions data show that in 2017, Canada admitted more than 286,600 permanent residents, which is within the approved levels range of 280,000 to 320,000 for all immigration categories (Economic, Family, Refugees and Protected Persons, and Humanitarian and Other),” the report said.

The report pointed out that the majority of applicants came from overseas, as compared to 2016, when a much higher percentage comprised applicants who were already in Canada on a temporary visa. “Total invitations issued to candidates residing in Canada dropped from 64% to 49% between 2016 and 2017. As more candidates living abroad were invited, and their applications ultimately approved,” the report added.

The Canadian government recently made significant changes in visa procedures to reduce the processing time for student visa applications, and to give more eligible students the opportunity to study at post-secondary institutions in the country through the Student Direct Stream (SDS).