The Canadian immigration department has just celebrated the first anniversary of the Express Entry system.
On January 1, 2015, Canada introduced a new method of selecting skilled worker immigration-
It emphasized superior English and French language skills, Canadian education, Canadian work experience and favoured those who had pre-arranged employment with a Canadian employer who was ready, willing and able to sponsor the new immigrant.
Over the past year, I received many emails from individuals from outside of Canada, with excellent credentials, thinking that the Canadian Express Entry system would be an expedited and efficient way of qualifying for Canadian immigration. The current reality is that over the last year of selection, under the express entry system, 99% of those who were successful had pre-arranged employment with a Canadian employer which assured them of an additional 600 points under the comparative ranking system. Without that confirmed employment, the Express Entry avenue would not have been available to most applicants.
However, as time goes on and as a Canadian government reduces its old backlog, the Express Entry system will become an efficient and expedited method of selecting independent skilled applicants without the necessity of a Canadian employer. Because there were still a number of cases still in the backlog from past years, the immigration department maintained a high value for the comparative ranking system throughout the first year of implementation. Expect the CRS value to drop over the next short while so a pre-arranged Canadian job may not be a necessity in the future.
Here is a summary of how the values fluctuated over the past year-
| Express Entry: rounds of invitations | # of invitations | Comparative ranking score needed |
| #22 – December 4, 2015 | 1,451 | 461 points |
| #21 – November 27, 2015 | 1,559 | 472 points |
| #20 – November 13, 2015 | 1,506 | 484 points |
| #19 – October 23, 2015 | 1,502 | 489 points |
| #18 – October 2, 2015 | 1,530 | 450 points |
| #17 – September 18, 2015 | 1,545 | 450 points |
| #16 – September 8, 2015 | 1,517 | 459 points |
| #15 – August 21, 2015 | 1,523 | 456 points |
| #14 – August 7, 2015 | 1,402 | 471 points |
| #13 – July 17, 2015 | 1,581 | 451 points |
| #12 – July 10, 2015 | 1,516 | 463 points |
| #11 – June 26, 2015 | 1,575 | 469 points |
| #10 – June 12, 2015 | 1,501 | 482 points |
| #9 – May 22, 2015 | 1,361 | 755 points |
| #8 – April 17, 2015 | 715 | 453 points |
| #7 – April 10, 2015 | 925 | 469 points |
| #6 – March 27, 2015 | 1,637 | 453 points |
| #5 – March 20, 2015 | 1,620 | 481 points |
| #4 – February 27, 2015 | 1,187 | 735 points |
| #3 – February 20, 2015 | 849 | 808 points |
| #2 – February 7, 2015 | 779 | 818 points |
| #1 – January 31, 2015 | 779 | 886 points |
