The Express Entry system has developed to become Canada’s primary immigration pathway. Skilled foreign workers find the Express Entry system fair and easy. In 2019, the system managed to surprise both candidates and observers with some unexpected results. The results fell short of the record-breaking results of 2018, but the Express Entry system came through as the country's principal immigration pathway by issuing an impressive 85,300 invitations. The invitations (ITAs) were distributed amongst highly skilled foreign workers who want to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
2019 saw the second-highest invitation total since the introduction of the Express Entry system back in 2015. The system is in charge of the vast pool of candidates who can be classified into Canada’s three Federal High-Skilled immigration programs. These include the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class, and even a part of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the country's federal immigration ministry, organized and held 26 draws via the Express Entry pool throughout 2019. 24 of the draws included all Express Entry-managed programs, and the results varied from 3,200 to 3,900 ITAs. Considering that Canada is planning to raise its admissions targets in the next few years, it seemed a possibility that the number of Express Entry candidates to be invited in 2019 would break the record of the 89,800 ITAs that were issued in 2018.
However, that was not the case. A large number of invitations were issued in late 2018, and the IRCC might have had to reign in the numbers to maintain the processing standard of six months that they maintain for permanent residence applications that are filed via the Express Entry system. Moreover, the draw size had a less predictable pattern last year.