From what the immigration department published, it follows that in the first round, 779 invitations (Invitation Letter) were issued to submit documents for immigration under programs for which applications are submitted through the Express Entry system. It was also announced that the minimum number of points scored by invited candidates is 886 points.
It is not specified under which immigration programs the candidates were selected. Also, no information has been published on the total number of applications received under the Express Entry system, i.e., from how many applications the selection was made.
It is worth recalling that the Express Entry system is designed in such a way that the selection of applications under it is completely unpredictable due to the lack of precise criteria by which the selection will be conducted. The selection criteria are set by the ministry for each round of selection based on considerations known only to the ministry. Therefore, to a large extent, the entire Express Entry system is essentially a lottery.
The first selection round was extremely important for understanding what these criteria are, what emphasis is placed, which specialties are preferred, and so on. Unfortunately, the published data did not bring any clarity. The fact is that all those selected in the first round had a job offer in Canada.
It was noted above that the Express Entry system has essentially turned into a lottery for those applying for immigration. The exception is the situation where the applicant has a job offer in Canada. Then the probability of successfully passing through the Express Entry system is very high. Moreover, in the vast majority of cases, one can speak of a guaranteed receipt of an Invitation Letter to submit documents. This is exactly the case after the first selection round.
Why were such conclusions drawn? This is easy to understand from the minimum number of points that selected applicants had to accumulate – 886 points. The fact is that the maximum number of points an applicant can accumulate under the Express Entry system is 1200 points. The largest number of 600 points is given for having a job offer in Canada. Points are also awarded for other parameters, including age, education, proficiency in English or French, work experience, and so on – collectively, up to 600 more points can be accumulated.
Obviously, without a job offer in Canada, it is impossible to score more than 600 points under the Exspress Entry system. At the same time, the minimum passing score was 866 points. It turns out that all selected candidates had a job offer from Canadian companies or a provincial nomination.
Unfortunately, the first round of application selection under the Express Entry system did not bring any clarity. That individuals with a job offer in Canada and a provincial nomination would be selected first was clear from the very beginning. The question is – how will those who do not fall into this category be selected? And this question remains unanswered.
Also puzzling is the number of selected applicants – 779 people. This is undoubtedly extremely small compared to the number of quotas allocated for immigration programs for which applications are accepted through the Express Entry system.
In particular, it is unclear whether selections will continue to be conducted only based on job offers and provincial nominations, and only at the end of the year will a chance be given to everyone else, or whether this is just the result of the immigration department's unpreparedness to work with other candidates.
Also noteworthy is the fact that among the selected applicants are individuals who clearly do not meet the criteria of the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class. That is, we are talking about individuals with trade skills, who, apparently, are already working in Canada as temporary workers.
One can only hope that the following selection rounds will bring more clarity.
Based on materials from «Русский Торонто»