Minister Fraser sat down with CIC News in Toronto this week to discuss the future of Canadian immigration. CIC News is releasing a special series on the interview over the coming weeks. In Part 1, we discuss the likely return to all-program draws next month.

Special interview series with Minister Fraser

CIC News sat down with the minister in Toronto on June 21, 2022 to discuss the future of Canadian immigration.

Over the coming weeks, CIC News is releasing a special series of articles elaborating on the interview with Minister Fraser on topics including:

• Part 2: Express Entry reforms (this article will be released on June 24)
• improving application processing and client experience
• Canadian citizenship fees
• legalizing undocumented workers in Canada
• the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025
• creating more immigration pathways for foreign workers and students, and
• how his life has changed since he became minister

Minister Fraser was in Toronto to speak at Collision, one of the world’s largest technology conferences.

IRCC on track to uphold Express Entry commitment

Fraser confirmed that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is on track to normalize Express Entry draws in early July. IRCC made the commitment in April, and also pledged to get the Express Entry service standard back to six months when the all-program draws resume.

IRCC paused Express Entry invitations to apply (ITA) for permanent residence to Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) candidates in December 2020 amid the pandemic. It did the same for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates in September 2021.

Recent Express Entry developments

Prior to the pandemic, IRCC usually considered all candidates in its bi-weekly Express Entry draws. This meant IRCC would invite the candidates with the highest Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores, irrespective of their program of eligibility.

IRCC temporarily shifted its approach during the pandemic. The pause in FSWP and FSTP draws were justified on the grounds that it made strategic sense to prioritize economic class immigration candidates in Canada while the country had international travel restrictions in place. For much of last year, IRCC prioritized CEC candidates so it could achieve its goal of landing 401,000 new permanent residents by the end of 2021.