Canada features prominently among the most popular destinations to migrate overseas.
The fastest way to immigrate to Canada in 2020 is through the Express Entry system.
With the launch of the Express Entry system in January 2015, the immigration process to Canada has become streamlined and expedited as well.
The Express Entry system, also commonly called EE, is the application management system of the government of Canada.
It is through EE that the processing for various economic programs – the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) are held.
Why was Express Entry designed?
The government of Canada designed the EE system with 3 main objectives in view –
- Expediting the processing of the applications,
- Flexibility in the selection of applications and the management of applications, and
- Responsiveness to the needs and requirements of the labour market and the regional areas.
With the immense response received, the EE system has gone far and beyond merely meeting the objectives.
Incidentally, Indians have been the biggest recipients of Canada permanent residency in 2019.
What are the immigration targets for 2020-2021?
As per CIC News, the updated “2019-2021 plan calls for gradually increasing admissions targets each year up to 350,000 in 2021”.
Targets for 2019 and 2020 have been increased to 330,800 and 341,000 respectively. These were initially set at 330,000 and 340,000.
Source: CIC News
Interestingly, of the 1.3 million new PR that Canada plans on inducting by 2021-end, a quarter [that is, 331,000] are expected to come through the 3 economic programs managed by the Express Entry, namely – FSTP, FSWP, and CEC.
PNPs, on the other hand, have a combined target of 255,100 in the same duration which would account for nearly 19% of the 1.3 million.
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How can a provincial nomination help me?
The Provincial Nominee Program, or PNP as it is more commonly referred to, is second only to the federal Express Entry system as the leading pathway to Canadian PR for skilled overseas-born workers.
9 provinces and 2 territories take part in the PNP.
Quebec has its own immigration program and does not participate in the PNP.
Nunavut is also not a part of PNP.
Source: CIC News
From its first year of operation to the present, the PNP has come a long way indeed.
While in 1996, the first year of operation of PNP, a mere 233 got their Canadian PR through PNP; the admission target for 2019 is 61,000. By 2021, PNPs are expected to lead to 160,100 new Canada PR.
Source: CIC News
As per CIC news, for the years 2018 to 2021, the Federal High Skilled Targets and PNP targets have been demarcated as:
| Year | Federal High Skilled Targets | Provincial Nominee Program Targets | Combined total |
| 2021 | 88,800 | 71,300 | 160,100 |
| 2020 | 85,800 | 67,800 | 153,600 |
| 2019 | 81,400 | 61,000 | 142,400 |
| 2018 | 74,900 | 55,800 | 129,900 |
There are many reasons that contribute to the success of PNP. As most of the immigrants to Canada prefer settling down in major cities, the regional areas in the provinces are left with a gap between the demand for labor and supply of the same. The PNP is one of the programs that seeks to address this issue.
A provincial nomination gives an additional 600 points to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of the profile of the candidate in the Express Entry Pool or EE Pool.
With the added 600, the CRS is high enough for being selected in the upcoming draw. A provincial nomination, thereby, is almost a guarantee that the candidate will receive the Invitation to Apply (ITA) in the next round.
Also, the CRS threshold set by the provinces in their draws is often lower when compared to that in the federal EE draw. For example, while the latest federal EE draw held on November 13 has a CRS 472 cut-off; Alberta’s October 24 draw had a CRS 300 cut-off.
All things said and done, the fastest way to Canada in 2020 would probably be to first enter your profile in the federal EE pool and then send an Expression of Interest (EOI) to the provinces participating in the PNP.
You can lodge your EOI with more than one province at a time.
All the best!
If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.
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