Nearly 80% of Express Entry Applicants are Under FSWP

The Express Entry pool shows most applicants are eligible under FSWP and CEC because of a pause in draws. About 80% of total immigration candidates waiting in federal express entry pool are from FSWP program.

The Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates in the Express Entry pool are high because of the lack of draws that has targeted these applicants.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) offered the breakdown of candidates in the Express Entry pool on January 4. Right after the first Express Entry draw of the year, IRCC selected Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates only.

Out of 194,000 candidates, more than 154,000 are FSWP candidates, and about 38,000 are CEC candidates. The number of Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) candidates is less at 577, and the remaining 344 are the PNP candidates.

Number of Candidates in Express Entry Pool as of January 4, 2022, by Immigration Category

IRCC's last all-program draw was in December 2020, because 80% of Express Entry candidates in the pool are from FSWP categories. In 2019, there was a 45 % selection of FSWP candidates, But once the pandemic hit in March 2020, the invitations were sent to only CEC and PNP candidates. The year 2021 was also the same, with no invites to the FSWP applicants, and there were only CEC and PNP candidates selected for immigration. The reason for the high number of selections was the target of 401,000 newcomers last year, which was met by converting temporary residents into permanent residents.

In September 2021, IRCC stopped conducting draws for CEC candidates and only invited PNP candidates every two weeks. As a result of this, there is a backlog of CEC applicants, which has grown to nearly 20 % Compared to June, when CEC candidates have made up 6% of the pool. In fact, that month, they were drawing 6,000 CEC candidates at a time.

Number of Candidates in the Express Entry Pool as of June 29, 2021, by Immigration Category (in Persons)

The last six months have seen a rise in both CEC and FSWP candidates in the pool. There are few FSTP applicants as they could have also gotten a provincial nomination and moved to the PNP class.