Toronto, Jun 9 (IANS): Canada has issued invitations to 4,800 candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 486 in its latest Express Entry draw for June 2023.
The 14th draw of the country's flagship economic immigration management system on Thursday follows the most recent draw on May 24 in which 4,800 candidates with a minimum CRS score of 488 were invited.
This comes days after the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced its first-ever launch of category-based selection for Express Entry candidates.
These category-based selection invitations will focus on candidates who have a strong French language proficiency, or work experience in fields like healthcare, agriculture and agri-food, STEM professions and trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors transport.
The IRCC expects to hold category-based draws this summer but is yet to provide an exact date.
So far 49,948 candidates have been invited over 13 draws in 2023.
The department did not hold any all-program draws until July 2022 following a pause related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Express Entry is Canada's flagship application management system for those seeking to immigrate permanently through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, the Canadian Experience Class and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program.
The system considers a candidate's work experience, occupation, language ability, education, age and other transferable factors.
Candidates who have the highest CRS score are the most likely to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence.
According to CIC News, it is expected that later this year IRCC will begin to move away from placing the most emphasis on a high CRS score.
It will instead begin targeting candidates based on any specific attribute that is deemed to be in demand in Canada's economy at the time.