In 1967, Canada invented the immigration points system to remove discrimination and prejudice from the process of choosing which immigrants to let into the country. The points system ignored an applicant’s race and country of origin, and instead, rewarded education, fluency in English or French, and work experience. Due to this change, Asians surpassed white Europeans to become the dominant immigrant group. Several countries which later adopted the Canadian-style points system include Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. While European countries look for ways to close their doors on immigration, and the United States argue about the number of illegal immigrants they wish to deport, Canada is still in favour of immigration, and has recently lifted its target for new permanent residents from 265,000 a year to 285,000.

Nevertheless, Canadian policy is changing. Since 2006, Canada is moving away from letting people in based on their language and work experience alone. This change was brought on by the flaws in the original points system. The points system allowed people to immigrate based on their skills and work experience, but once immigrants arrive in Canada, they find it difficult to find jobs. Employers often do not recognize skills and education acquired abroad, especially outside Europe. Doctors ended up driving taxis, and engineers labored at convenience stores. The unemployment rate among immigrants is nearly 50% higher than that of Canadian–born workers.

Canada introduced a new system on January 1, 2015. The new “Express Entry System” favours applicants for applying to become permanent residents if they were given offers of employment. This system reduces the mismatch between available jobs and immigrants’ skills, and encourages them to settle outside big cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, where they tend to settle.

Canada’s first attempt to improve the points system shortly after the Conservative government came to power in 2006, was unsuccessful. The government tried to please employers by increasing the number of foreign workers allowed in temporarily so that they can fill low and semi-skilled jobs that Canadians did not want. But when employers favoured hiring temporary foreign workers at lower cost over Canadians, there were complaints. This caused the government to restrict entry under temporary work visas last June. With Express Entry, immigration candidates are awarded half the points on a 1,200-point scale for having a job offer or a nomination under one of Canada’s provincial immigration plans, which are closely aligned with the provinces’ job vacancies. Those with the highest points will be quickly invited to apply for permanent residency, and the rest remain in a pool from which the government and eventually employers can choose from. Applicants in their early 20’s also receive maximum points for age. The old points system gave applicants credit for family members in Canada, but the new one does not. All in all, the new “Express Entry” system hopes to create new Canadians that are younger and better educated than before, which should bode well for Canada’s future. Ideally, this should also help streamline the processing of permanent residence applications for those who are young, educated, and have job offers to work in Canada.

Feel free to contact us to see how the new “Express Entry” system can help you!