Federal Skilled Workers and Canadian Experience Class draws have resumed.
FSW draws had been paused since December 23rd, 2020. CEC draws had been paused since September 14th, 2021.
You can get all our analysis of the latest FSW and CEC draws here.
Background to FSW draws being paused
Federal Skilled Worker draws have finally resumed but why were they paused for so long in the first place?
We have some insight into the reasoning of the pause from an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) memo titled “Managing Federal High Skilled Inventory” from November 2021 which outlined that Federal Skilled Workers (FSW) draws would not resume until July 2022.
The IRCC memo attempts to explains the rational for not resuming FSW draws until July along with some information about what the draws might looks like in 2022.
I’ve covered all the useful details below.
The IRCC memo told us that the last approved FHS pause was due to expire at the end of January 2022 and seeks an extension to it.
FHS is Federal High Skilled which is the collective term for Federal Skilled Workers (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and Federal Skilled Trades (FST) programs.
Presumably this extension was granted given that there were no FHS draws until July 2022.
The reason it gives for the pause up until 2022 is “due to travel restrictions inhibiting the processing of overseas economic applications.”
Which might have been a valid justification in the early days of the pandemic but I’m not certain how it was justifiable after June 2021 when most pandemic related travel restrictions had been lifted.
It also discusses the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident pathway IRCC created in spring of 2021. IRCC received around 84,000 applications for permanent residency under this program and this has had an impact on the number of Federal High Skilled (FSW, CEC, FST) applications that are required to meet their immigration targets.
It also calls out the admissions space required to accommodate the resettlement of Afghan nationals to Canada.
The justification for pausing CEC draws specifically, is not given. While the travel restrictions rational given for all FHS is not particularly relevant to CEC applicants, the general theme of we already have enough applicants for FHS targets seems to be applied here.
Immigration targets for FSW and CEC cut
The memo indicates that while Canada still wants to meet its overall immigration targets for 2022 as laid out in its Immigration Levels Plan, the proportion coming from FSW, CEC and FST (collectively called FHS – Federal High Skilled) will likely be significantly reduced.
The memo states a possible decrease of more than 50% from 110,500.
These reductions are justified in the memo to make space for the 84,000 applications under the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway and the resettlement of Afghan nationals.
We’ve had confirmation from the latest Immigration Levels Plan published on February 14th, 2022 that the target for FHS in 2022 has been cut from 110,500 to 55,900. You can get all the details of this here.
2022 immigration targets already met
The memo indicates that the number of FSW and CEC applicants waiting to be processed (i.e. have been invited to apply but have not yet obtained permanent residency) is already enough to meet FHS targets for 2022.
The memo states “…existing inventory is sufficient to meet FHS levels space under all scenarios being considered for 2022.”
This statement is still consistent with FSW and CEC draws resuming in July 2022. Processing times for applications mean that candidates drawn in July 2022 likely won’t have their Permanent Residency application processed and approved until 2023. And would therefore be in the 2023 immigration targets.
More on processing times below.
Express Entry immigration processing times are high
As of when the memo was written in November 2021, FSW processing times were 20.4 months on average and expected to rise to 36 months throughout 2022.
For CEC the processing time was 7.6 months.
But, in a statement by Sean Fraser, Canada’s immigration minister, on April 22nd 2022, it was confirmed that when FSW draws resume in July 2022, the majority will be processed within six months, which is IRCC’s service standard.
CRS score prediction 2022
IRCC predicts that the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score required to be invited to apply in 2022 would be above 500.
It states that the CRS score would remain high for approximately six months.
This is because of the current composition of the Express Entry pool.
The first “all-programs” Express Entry draw to be held since the pandemic pause was in-line with the prediction; the CRS cut off was 557.
IRCC Managing Federal High Skilled Inventory Memo
Original source of the memo here
I hope you’ve found my analysis of when FSW draws will resume helpful. What do you think about the current pause? Drop me a comment below and let me know.
And drop me a comment below about anything – I’d love to hear from you.
Hi,
Thank you for the information. It is very helpful. Do you think that a score of 472 for the FSW could be low, if the draws are back in July?
Thanks in advance.
Paula
Hi Paula,
It’s hard to say. Given that the IRCC memo mentioned that when FSW draws do resume the score is likely to be above 500 for around 6 months. But if you look at historical draws before December 2020 (you can check them out in my Express Entry Draw Results article) a score around 472 would have been enough to get you in on some of the draws – but it would be close.
Sorry I know it’s not straightforward response but there’s no way to know for sure.
Hi,
Thank you for the info. Would you please clarify on the 55000 that IRCC is planning to admit this year. Does this number include all FHS category or FSW alone ?. If it is fsw alone , the people who have a score of 500+ comes below 7000(those who are in the pool) and just 2 draws are enough to cover this (considering the historic fsw intake number). Rest all fall under 500. So what will they do with the remaining 45K.?
Hi there. The 55,900 is for all FHS, not just FSW. The above 500 score prediction in the memo is for 6 months if draws were to resume at a modest pace. If they were to start doing draws that include FSW at the 5000 invitations per draw then the score required would fall sooner.