Immigration minister: Canada to resume Express Entry draws for skilled workers in “near term”
A spotlight on Immigration Minister Sean Fraser's discussion about the future of Express Entry.
When asked about when Canada would once again hold
Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws,
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser replied draws would resume “in the near term” and said that he was looking into how to make the
Express Entry system more flexible.
Fraser sat down with the president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, Goldy Hyder, for a discussion on Canadian immigration. The event was streamed on the Canadian Club Toronto website on February 16.
While the immigration minister said there was no announcement on when CEC draws would resume, but he suggested that they would return “in the near future” and that Express Entry would start to look more normal in the coming years.
We do need to resume, in the near future, draws for federal skilled workers,” Fraser said. “If you actually look at the immigration levels plan over the next couple of years the balance is shifting back and by year three… a record number of federal skilled workers, including through the Canadian Experience Class, will be welcomed to Canada.
By no means do I want to communicate that there will be any kind of abandonment of—what I would argue—is one of the most successful immigration programs anywhere in the world.”
Fraser also said he was looking to add more flexibility to the Express Entry system. He suggested that Express Entry could be used to respond to short-term needs including welcoming people into smaller communities, sectors in high demand, and “people who are coming from a particular region that has the kind of educational institutions that will train the workers we need in strategically important sectors.”
“Building this flexibility into the Express Entry system is something I’m personally digging into right now because I think it’s going to enable us to respond in a more nimble way when we do see the pace of transformation is only increasing over time,” Fraser said.
Fraser had previously hinted that
occupation-specific Express Entry draws could be a possibility in the future in a meeting with Canadian immigration lawyers.
Expanding pathways to permanent residence for
international students and
temporary foreign workersthrough Express Entry is one of Fraser’s priorities listed in his minister’s
mandate letter. He is also tasked with ensuring immigration better supports small- and medium-size communities by expanding the
Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and moving forward on the
Municipal Nominee Program. Since taking office in the fall, Fraser has already made the
Atlantic Immigration Pilot a permanent program, which was one of the other items on the list.
