Hi

Here is the announced for Canada's replacement for the applications in FSW, Skilled Trades, CEC and a portion of the PNP. Let the speculation begin.


Offering "Express Entry" to Qualified Economic Immigrants
Actively Recruiting Talented Newcomers For the Benefit of Canada’s Economy

April 8, 2014 — Ottawa — Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander today announced that Canada’s active recruitment model for economic immigration will officially be called “Express Entry.” Set to launch in January 2015, “Express Entry” is a major step forward in the transformation of Canada’s immigration system into one that is fast, flexible and focused on meeting Canada’s economic and labour needs.

“Express Entry” will allow for greater flexibility and better responsiveness to deal with regional labour shortages, and help fill open jobs for which there are no available Canadian workers. “Express Entry” candidates who receive a valid job offer or nomination under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will be quickly invited to apply for permanent residency – a key distinction between “Express Entry” and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which is only used to fill temporary labour and skill shortages.

Formerly referred to as “Expression of Interest”, “Express Entry” will be open to skilled immigrants and allow the government to select the best candidates who are most likely to succeed in Canada, rather than those who happen to be first in line. It will also prevent backlogs and allow Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to better coordinate application volume with the annual immigration levels plan.

Qualified applicants can expect faster processing times of six months or less when invited to come to Canada in four key economic streams: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, Canadian Experience Class, and a portion of the PNP.

With “Express Entry,” employers will have a key role in selecting economic immigrants and providing advice to the Government of Canada. To this end, Alexander also announced that over the course of spring 2014, CIC will work with provincial and territorial governments to hold a series of cross-Canada information sessions to provide employers with more information about this exciting new system.

I speculate that thousands will apply and be offered jobs in quite a few less than ideal work locations (not all major cities). They will accept these jobs initially and then start moaning about where they live and the cost of living in these locations and how do they get jobs in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto etc etc.

Oh joy, another scheme. I just hope our CEC appl is sorted before then. I don't fancy being put on a back-burner while they concentrate on their shiny new scheme. It was bad enough that people of previous incarnations got theirs returned after years, I hope they don't plan on doing that again. It must be soul destroying for people who have worked so hard & waited so patiently for so long.

To be fair to CIC, this was announced a very long time ago, so they've given people plenty of notice to try and get in before things change. Visa routes change often in immigration (for all countries), but that's the nature of it, they need to attract the applicants they actually need!

It does seem as though this will make it tougher for most people, although fairer as well I think. A similar system has worked very well for Oz for years, so hopefully it will for Canada too.

What are the chances that applications in processing on January 2015 will be affected in any way by this Express Entry system?

Hi



Shouldn't have any effect, although they did pass legislation 87.4 to dispose of the backlog previously. Don't forget that the FSW program ends the 30th of this month, so there won't be any new FSW applications coming into the system, leaving more time to process those already accepted.

How does this change affect non-skilled workers - those that are in group C on the skills list?

Hi


They were never able to apply under Skilled Worker.

I'm talking about the PNP routes/steams in Alberta and BC where you currently can...

Hi



I don't think that PNPs for C&D NOCs will be included in the EOI. Probably handled the same as they are now, but CIC has indicated that not all PNP will be going through the "Express Entry" , until they outline that portion of the program, anything is a guess.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the impact EOI may have on LMO's for Temp workers under the 0,A,B categories?

will EOI superseded this process in full? or will it be aimed at express PR status?

It's nothing to do with LMOs, it's the new system for PR, so I can't see it having any impact on LMO apps at all IMO.

My understanding is that Express Entry will replace Temoprary Foreign Workers Program, although I may be wrong.

I thought this was interesting:

Having a valid job offer or provincial/territorial nomination will guarantee Express Entry candidates an invitation to apply for permanent residence.

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=836509

Hi


Seems logical, valid job offer, would replace the present LMO for Permanent Residence in FSW2. It would probably still require an approved LMO for Permanent residence. Same as the PNP, you get a PNP certificate, and you can file an application, no guarantee in either case that a visa would be issued.