8th Anniversary of the Online Express Entry System

Beginning January 1, 2015 the majority of Economic Class applications for permanent residence could only be filed online through the Express Entry system. The Express Entry system was designed to limit the intake of applications. The Express Entry system is imposed on top of several Economic Class categories for permanent residence such as the Federal Skilled Worker category. Through the Express Entry system the Immigration authorities try to limit the number of applications going to each application stream. When you receive an Invitation To Apply after filing a Profile in the Express Entry system, you are only receiving permission to actually file an application for permanent residence. The Invitation To Apply gives you no substantive rights. The Express Entry system was created because in the early part of the 21st century the Immigration authorities lost control over the Economic Class categories. Applications were waiting for years to be processed. A few years before 2015 the Immigration authorities threw out about 300,000 applications under the Federal Skilled Worker category, under the now extinct Investor and Entrepreneur categories, and a few other small programs. The files were closed and in theory the applicants were refunded their filing fees. When the Express Entry system was opened, the Immigration authorities announced that it would process all applications within six months of receipt of a complete package. Even before COVID hit, the processing times were above six months.

According to IRCC's web site, as of January 3, 2023 the estimated processing times for online applications through the Express Entry system were:

1. Canadian Experience Class – 20 months;
2. Federal Skilled Worker – 29 months;
3. Federal Skilled Trades – 62 months, and;
4. Provincial Nominee Program – 13 months. This estimated processing time for an online Provincial Nominee Program application is misleading. It does not show the many months it takes the Province that issued the Nomination Certificate to process your application to the Province, prior to you applying for permanent residence through the online process.

 

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