Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has officially affirmed its intention to maintain the existing six categories eligible for category-based selection in Express Entry draws throughout 2024.
In an email notification from IRCC, the department stated its commitment to selecting candidates based on specific qualifications such as education, work experience, or language skills to address identified economic needs and priorities.
The six categories target candidates with:
- French language proficiency
- Work experience in healthcare occupations
- Work experience in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations
- Work experience in trade occupations
- Work experience in transport occupations
- Work experience in agriculture and agri-food occupations
Category-based selection draws for Express Entry candidates were introduced in May 2023 as a method of helping Canada to meet its economic goals.
In category-based rounds of invitations, Canada invites candidates in the Express Entry pool who are eligible for a specific category established by the Minister to meet an identified economic goal. Canada invite candidates to apply for permanent residence based on criteria such as
- ability to communicate in a specific official language
- work experience in a specific occupation
- education
Category-based rounds add to general and program-specific rounds by inviting top-ranking candidates who can help us meet these specific economic goals.
How Canada choose and report on categories
IRCC choose categories based on
Each year, they will report to Parliament on
- the categories they chose the previous year
- why and how they chose
- the instructions to establish a category
- the number of invitations they issued for each category
Who is eligible for category-based selection?
To be eligible for an invitation through a category-based round, you must
- meet the minimum criteria for Express Entry, including being eligible for 1 of the 3 immigration programs it covers and
- meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round
When IRCC hold 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
IRCC says a candidate who meets the criteria for an Express Entry program must also have accumulated, within the past three years, at least six months of full-time, continuous work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in a single occupation in Canada or abroad to be considered for a work-experience based category.
Candidates who are invited in the French language proficiency category must score a 7 in all four categories (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens.