Targeted Express Entry Draws Might Work In Favour Of Those Over 40
Other than being one of the world’s most popular go-to immigration destinations, Canada is also known for its immigrant-friendly policies, ranking fourth on the Migrant Integration Policy Index, CTV News reports.
However, not everyone would agree.
Many of Canada’s immigration programs consider age as one of the most important factors, and with the backlog in application processing many applicants have lost their eligibility for a PR card due to aging.
Therefore, even though these applicants might have the qualifications Canada is looking for, their chances of obtaining permanent residency get dramatically lower, as soon as they turn 40, or even thirty.
Rick Lamanna, a director in an immigration services provider company, told CTVNews.ca how frustrating everything is for certain applicants waiting in the pool.
“They see themselves losing points every year because of these delays. They may have fewer points than they did a couple of years ago or even a year ago,” he said.
How Does The Point-Based System Work?
Programs like the Federal Skilled Worker Program or Canadian Experience Class, both of which are Express Entry streams employers heavily rely on, consider age as a major criterion. Turning 40 means losing more than half of the age-based points compared to a 30-year-old applicant.
For example – a single 30-year-old applicant will get 105 points for their age. A person who just turned 40 will get 50 points. To make the matter even worse – with each year passing waiting for the application to be processed, the 40-year-old applicant loses ten or more points. In your 30s, you lose around 5 points per year, while in your 20s you don’t lose points at all. Applicants with a common-law partner or a spouse, lose even more points. For those over the age of 44, the score dramatically drops since Canada’s comprehensive ranking system gives no points to those over 45.
However, even though age can lower a candidate’s Canada Express Class (CEC) or Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) scores, other factors can help raise it. The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) has a maximum score of 1200 based on several factors, such as education, English/French skills, and work experience. The candidate must score higher than the CRS cut-off score to receive an Invitation To Apply (ITA). If they fail to meet the CRS score in a specific draw, they must upload their profile again.
Given the fact that the majority of Canada’s workforce is nearing retirement and with women choosing to have children later in life or at all, the country’s labour market will end up with an older workforce and a lack of skilled workers. More importantly, young skilled workers.
This leads us to our next point – targeted express entry draws.
Targeted Express Entry Draws To Change The System?
As 2023 approaches, so are the targeted express entry draws, which were announced by Immigration Minister Fraser earlier this year.
Thanks to the recently passed Bill C-19, the new method of choosing immigrants should address the labour market in Canada and accept applicants that will help improve labour market needs. Since provinces do have a big say in this area, they are working on improving their system for accepting internationally-educated foreign workers, such as healthcare workers. This would ensure that the process bring over healthcare workers to Canada will improve, for example, a targeted express entry draw could be a game changer.
However, applicants with a higher CRS score who don’t fit in the specific occupation pool might not get a chance to get an ITA and could be left hanging.
In conclusion, while targeted draws might help address labour market shortages in specific industries such as construction, it might also leave out top-skilled, young, bilingual workers in other industries. They might not feel as encouraged to enter the Express Entry pool knowing that their field might not be needed in Canada’s labour market.
