Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced that category-based selection for Express Entry will begin, today, with 500 Express Entry candidates with backgrounds in Health Care occupations to be invited to apply for Permanent Residence and 1,500 on July 5, 2023.  Also, on July 5, 2023, the Government of Canada will be inviting candidates with STEM expertise – including data scientists, software developers and programmers, mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries, and electrical and electronics engineers – with a view to help Canada’s science and technology sector, by bringing in the skilled talent that businesses need to drive innovation and achieve their growth potential.

To be eligible for Category-Based Selection, an applicant must

• have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

The full list of Health Care occupations appears below:

Audiologists and speech language pathologists
Chiropractors
Dentists
Dieticians and nutritionists
Education counsellors
General practitioners and family physicians
Instructors of persons with disabilities
Kinesiologists and other professional occupation in therapy and assessment
Licensed practical nurses
Massage therapists
Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
Medical laboratory technologists
Medical radiation technologists
Medical sonographers
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Nurse practitioners
Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
Occupational therapists
Optometrists
Other assisting occupations in support of health services
Other practitioners of natural healing
Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
Paramedical occupations
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
Physiotherapists
Psychologists
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
Specialists in surgery
Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists
Veterinarians

 

The full list of STEM occupations appears below:

Architects
Architecture and science managers
Business systems specialists
Civil Engineers
Computer and information systems managers
Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers)
Computer systems developers and programmers
Cybersecurity specialists
Data scientists
Database analysts and data administrators
Electrical and electronics engineers
Engineering managers
Industrial and manufacturing engineers
Information systems specialists
Land surveyors
Landscape Architects
Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries
Metallurgical and materials engineers
Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers
Software developers and programmers
Software engineers and designers
Urban and land use planners
Web designers
Web developers and programmers

Today, Wednesday, May 31, 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that Canada is introducing category-based rounds of invitations for Express Entry.  The Government will invite candidates who are eligible for a specific category established by the Minister to meet an identified economic goal. Candidates will be invited to apply for permanent residence based on criteria such as

• ability to communicate in a specific official language
• work experience in a specific Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category of the National Occupational Classification (NOC)
• education

Category-based selection will allow Canada to issue invitations to apply to prospective permanent residents with specific skills, training or language ability and will add to general and program-specific rounds by inviting top-ranking candidates who can help Canada meet specific economic goals.  Further details on the timing of invitations for individual categories and how to apply will be announced in the coming weeks and the chosen categories will be announced in advance.

Categories chosen for 2023

For 2023, the Government of Canada chose these categories:

1. French-language proficiency
2. Healthcare occupations
3. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations
4. Trade occupations
5. Transport occupations
6. Agriculture and agri-food occupations

Who is eligible

To be eligible for an invitation through a category-based round, the applicant must meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round.

When the Government holds a category-based round of invitations, they will

• rank candidates in the pool who meet the category requirements and
• invite top-ranking candidates to apply for permanent residence

A.  Eligibility for the French-language proficiency category

To be eligible, you must

• have French-language test results that show a minimum score of 7 in all 4 language abilities on the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

B.  Eligibility for the healthcare occupations category

To be eligible, you must

• have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Audiologists and speech language pathologists
Chiropractors
Dentists
Dieticians and nutritionists
Education counsellors
General practitioners and family physicians
Instructors of persons with disabilities
Kinesiologists and other professional occupation in therapy and assessment
Licensed practical nurses
Massage therapists
Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
Medical laboratory technologists
Medical radiation technologists
Medical sonographers
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Nurse practitioners
Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
Occupational therapists
Optometrists
Other assisting occupations in support of health services
Other practitioners of natural healing
Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
Paramedical occupations
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
Physiotherapists
Psychologists
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
Specialists in surgery
Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists
Veterinarians

C.  Eligibility for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations category

To be eligible, you must

• have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Architects
Architecture and science managers
Business systems specialists
Civil Engineers
Computer and information systems managers
Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers)
Computer systems developers and programmers
Cybersecurity specialists
Data scientists
Database analysts and data administrators
Electrical and electronics engineers
Engineering managers
Industrial and manufacturing engineers
Information systems specialists
Land surveyors
Landscape Architects
Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries
Metallurgical and materials engineers
Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers
Software developers and programmers
Software engineers and designers
Urban and land use planners
Web designers
Web developers and programmers

D.  Eligibility for the trade occupations category

To be eligible, you must

• have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Residential and commercial installers and servicers
Elevator constructors and mechanics
Machine fitters
Heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics
Construction millwrights and industrial mechanics
Carpenters
Plumbers
Electricians (except industrial and power system)
Welders and related machine operators
Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers

E.  Eligibility for the transport occupations category

To be eligible, you must

• have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors
Transport truck drivers
Railway traffic controllers and marine traffic regulators
Engineer officers, water transport
Deck officers, water transport
Air traffic controllers and related occupations
Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors
Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors
Railway carmen/women
Managers in transportation

F.  Eligibility for the agriculture and agri-food occupations category

To be eligible, you must

• have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed in the table below
• meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round

Full eligibility details will be available in the instructions for each round.

Contractors and supervisors, landscaping, grounds maintenance and horticulture services
Agricultural service contractors and farm supervisors
Butchers- retail and wholesale

Today, Friday, May 26, 2023, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced new measures to strengthen family reunification, which include:

• faster temporary resident visa (TRV) processing times for spousal applicants
• new and dedicated processing tools for spousal TRV applicants
• a new open work permit for spousal and family class applicants
• open work permit extensions for open work permit holders expiring between August 1 and the end of 2023

Minister Fraser announced that, going forward, most TRV applications will be processed within 30 days, and applicants will benefit from processing measures specific to their circumstances as spouses and dependants.

Once in Canada, spouses, partners and dependants are now able to apply for and receive an open work permit as soon as they submit a complete permanent residence application under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class (SPCLC) or other family class programs.

Finally, Minister Fraser announced that spousal applicants, along with other open work permit holders, whose open work permits expire between August 1 and the end of 2023, will be able to extend their work permits for an additional 18 months.

There is good news for foreign-trained engineers who wish to immigrate to Canada with Ontario as their province of intended destination.  They will no longer be required to have Canadian work experience to become licensed in Ontario.  The province is adopting a new law to remove the barriers keeping skilled immigrants from working in their former professions.

On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) became the first professional regulatory body to remove the requirement from their application criteria.  By doing so, PEO has made it easier for foreign-trained engineers to earn professional designations in Ontario and enter the workforce as licensed engineers quicker.  There are roughly 7,000 vacant engineering positions in Ontario that need to be filled.

Despite the removal of the Canadian experience requirement, licensing applicants to the engineering profession are still required to have 48-months of professional experience in engineering and pass a national professional practice exam that includes ethics, professional practice, engineering, law and professional liability.