IRCC Issues Historic 110,266 ITAs as Canada Prioritizes Tech and Skilled Workers

Highlights: IRCC released the annual Express Entry report

• IRCC issued a record number of 110,266 ITAs last year from January 11 and December 21, 2023. 
• The Invitations to Apply (ITAs) were issued through 42 Express Entry draws, a 136% increase from the previous year.
• 488,571 profiles were submitted, out of which 343,875 were considered eligible.
• Canada is prioritizing the intake of more Tech and skilled foreign workers.

 

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IRCC issued 110,266 ITAs in 2023

The annual Express Entry end-of-the-year report was recently released by the IRCC, which shows the issuance of 110,266 ITAs in 2023. It was a significant increase of 136% compared to the previous year. Around 488,571 applications were received by the IRCC, out of which 343,875 profiles qualified to apply to PR. The IRCC accepts applications from FSWP, FSTP, and CEC programs. The government also introduced the category-based Express Entry draws that select candidates from six categories based on language and occupation. Express Entry uses the CRS tool to allot candidates with a score of 1,200.   

 

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How were the ITAs issued?

The IRCC issued Invitations to Apply (ITAs) via different immigration programs, with varied overall CRS scores, Gender, country of residency and citizenship, occupation, language ability, and education.

 

Below is a factor-wise breakdown of how the Invitations to Apply (ITAs) were issued:

 

ITAs issued Based on Immigration Programs

IRCC invited candidates through the CEC, FSWP, FSTP, and PNP. The ITAs are issued via a hierarchy, through which candidates who are eligible for both CEC and FSTP will be invited under the CEC program. In June, 25,870 ITAs were invited through the category-based draws, accounting for up to 23% of the overall ITAs issued.

Immigration Program	Number of ITAs issued
PNP	26,445
FSWP	17,898
FSTP	8
CEC	40,052

 

ITAs issued based on CRS scores

Most of the CRS scores in the EE pool are on the scale of 300-550, which accounts for 93% of all the candidates. The average CRS score was over 500 for most of the ALL-program draws.

Draw Type	Minimum Score	Maximum Score	Score Range to Receive an ITA
Generic (includes FSWP, CEC, and FSTP)	484	561	484 - 561
Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)	691	791	691 - 791
Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP)	489 (Only one draw occurred in 2023)		489
CBS Healthcare Occupations	431	476	431 - 476
CBS Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Occupations	481	486	481 - 486
CBS French Proficiency	375	486	375-486
CBS Trades Occupations	388	425	388-425
CBS Transport Occupations	435 (Only one draw occurred in 2023)		435
CBS Agriculture Occupations	354	386	354-386

 

ITAs issued based on Gender

The record suggests that a majority of the applicants were men, with around 57% of the invites being issued to men and 43% being granted to women. Compared to women, most men got the ITAs via the CEC and PNP programs. Women are more likely to receive an ITA through the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).

Gender	% of ITAs issued
Men	57%
Women	43%

 

ITAs issued based on Occupations

It was noted that most ITAs through the Express Entry program were given to candidates in finance, tech, and computer occupations. The "other" occupations took up 48% of the overall ITAs. Designers and software engineers received 7,259 ITAs, and 5,183 were given to software programmers and developers. Ten out of 15 occupations were listed as TEER 1 under the NOC system. The occupations usually require a university degree.

Primary Occupation	Training Education Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) Ranking	ITAs Issued in 2023
NOC 21231; Software engineers and designers	1	7,259 (6.5%)
NOC 21232; Software developers and programmers	1	5,183 (4.7%)
NOC 62020; Food service supervisors	2	3,277 (2.9%)
NOC 21222; Information systems specialists	1	2,951 (2.6%)
NOC 13110; Administrative assistants	3	2,538 (2.3%)
NOC 21223; Database analysts and data administrators	1	2,151 (1.9%)
NOC 11202; Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations	1	2,142 (1.9%)
NOC 11100; Financial auditors and accountants	1	2,090 (1.8%)
NOC 22221; User support technicians	2	1,844 (1.6%)
NOC 20012; Computer and information systems managers	0	1,841 (1.6%)
NOC 13100; Administrative officers	3	1,747 (1.5%)
NOC 21211; Data scientists	1	1,654 (1.5%)
NOC 21221; Business systems specialists	1	1,600 (1.4%)
NOC 12200; Accounting technicians and bookkeepers	2	1,599 (1.4%)
NOC 21230; Computer systems developers and programmers	1	1,475 (1.3%)
Other		70,915 (64.3%)
Total		110,266 (100%)

 

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ITAs issued based on Citizenship and Country of residence

Canada was their country of residence, with 76,791, while India took up the second spot with 7,394.

 

The below table has the ITAs issued based on country of residence in 2023:

Country of Residence	ITAs Issued in 2023
Canada	76,791 (69.6%)
India	7,394 (6.7%)
Federal Republic of Cameroon	3,828 (3.4%)
Nigeria	3,822 (3.4%)
United States of America	2,526 (2.2%)
Morocco	1,681 (1.5%)
Algeria	1,349 (1.2%)
Pakistan	1,173 (1.0%)
United Kingdom and Overseas Territories	1,157 (1.0%)
United Arab Emirates	1,051 (0.9%)
Other	9,494 (8.6%)
Total	110,266 (100%)

 

The table below has the ITAs issued based on country of citizenship in 2023:

Country of Citizenship	ITAs Issued in 2023
India	52,106 (47.2%)
Nigeria	7,263 (6.5%)
People's Republic of China	5,854 (5.3%)
Federal Republic of Cameroon	4,335 (3.9%)
Iran	2,693 (2.4%)
Philippines	2,593 (2.3%)
Pakistan	2,565 (2.3%)
Morocco	2,049 (1.8%)
Brazil	1,777 (1.6%)
Algeria	1,592 (1.4%)
Other	27,439 (24.8%)
Total	110,266 (100%)

 

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ITAs issued based on Education

Most of the ITAs were granted to candidates with a post-secondary education. Around 46% have an educational credential of three years or more, while 43% have a Master's or professional degree.

Education Level	ITAs Issued in 2023
High school or less	810 (0.7%)
One or two year post-secondary credential	7,819 (7.0%)
Post-secondary credential of three years or longer	50,294 (45.6%)
Master's Degree or entry-to-practice professional degree	47,529 (43.1%)
PhD	3,814 (3.4%)
Total	110,266 (100%)

 

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ITAs issued based on Language ability

The reports show that around 78% of the selected candidates had scores between CLB 7 and 9, with 18% having a score of CLB 10.

First Official Language (English or French) Level	ITAs Issued in 2023
CLB/NCLC 4	5 (<1%)
CLB/NCLC 5	1,192 (1.0%)
CLB/NCLC 6	3,849 (3.4%)
CLB/NCLC 7	26,173 (23.7%)
CLB/NCLC 8	25,214 (22.8%)
CLB/NCLC 9	33,872 (30.7%)
CLB/NCLC 10	19,961 (18.1%)
Total	110,266 (100%)

 

 

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