Express Entry Year-End Report 2020

Overview of Express Entry

Launched in January 2015, Express Entry is Canada’s flagship application management system for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, Canadian Experience Class, and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program. As described below, Express Entry provides the Government of Canada with the means to manage the intake of applications for permanent residence under these key economic immigration programs, while also facilitating the selection of individuals who are most likely to succeed in Canada.

As with previous reports, the Express Entry Year-End Report 2020 provides an overview of Express Entry and presents data from across all stages of the Express Entry continuum, including profile submissions, invitations to apply, applications, processing times, and admissions. Throughout the report, historical and gender-disaggregated data^{Footnote i} is presented alongside the 2020 figures to provide additional context.

How Express Entry works

The Express Entry system manages applications for permanent residence in two steps. First, individuals express their interest in immigrating to Canada by completing an online profile, which is screened electronically to determine if the individual is eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, or the Canadian Experience Class. Individuals who meet the eligibility criteria for at least one of these programs^{Footnote ii} are placed in the Express Entry pool and assigned a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, which is determined by comparing information in their profile to a transparent scoring criteria. Candidates in the pool are ranked against one another according to their CRS score.

Second, Ministerial Instructions are regularly published on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)’s website specifying the number of invitations to apply (ITA) for permanent residence that will be sent to candidates in the Express Entry pool on a specific date. The Ministerial Instruction also specifies the economic program(s) for which the Express Entry ITA round will apply. For each round, invitations are issued to candidates, in descending CRS score rank order, until the maximum number of invitations specified in the associated Ministerial Instruction is met. The profiles of candidates who do not receive an ITA, or decline an ITA, remain in the pool for up to 12 months.

Candidates that receive an ITA have 90 days to either decline the invitation or submit an online application for permanent residence to IRCC. Candidates who receive an ITA but take no action within the 90-day period are withdrawn from the pool. Upon receipt, an immigration officer assesses the application to verify the applicant’s CRS score, program eligibility, and admissibility. If the immigration officer is satisfied that all conditions have been met and that the applicant is not inadmissible, they are approved for a permanent resident visa. Applicants and their accompanying family members become permanent residents when they are admitted to Canada. The processing standard for applications sourced via Express Entry is six months for 80% of cases. Processing time is measured from the day a complete application is received until a final decision is made by an immigration officer.

The CRS is the backbone of the Express Entry application management system. A CRS score comprises two components: core points and additional points. A candidate without an accompanying spouse^{Footnote iii} can receive a maximum of 600 points under the core component, depending on the person’s human capital characteristics (e.g., age, education, official language proficiency, work experience). These factors help predict a candidate’s potential for success in the Canadian labour market.

Under the additional points component, a candidate can receive points for having a provincial/territorial nomination (600 points), arranged employment (50 or 200 points), Canadian post-secondary education credentials (15 or 30 points), French language proficiency (25 or 50 points), or a sibling in Canada (15 points).^{Footnote iv} Additional points increase the probability that a given candidate will receive an ITA, but cannot alone ensure it—with the exception of the points for a provincial/territorial nomination, which are enough to virtually guarantee an ITA in a following round that includes the Provincial Nominee Program.

Candidates in the Express Entry pool can, and in some cases must, update their profile to reflect any change in circumstances, and this action can trigger a recalculation of the CRS score. Some updates are automatically triggered when milestones, such as a birthday or expiry of language test results, are reached. Accordingly, candidates can take steps to increase their CRS score, thereby increasing the probability they will be selected to receive an ITA. For example, a candidate could increase their proficiency in an official language, secure arranged employment, or provide an educational credential assessment for education acquired abroad.

The maximum CRS score a candidate can achieve is capped at 1,200 points—600 points under the core component and 600 points under the additional points component. All information provided at the profile stage for the purpose of generating a CRS score is self-reported and must be supported with appropriate documentation from the candidate at the application stage or the application could be refused.

What’s new in 2020

COVID-19 has been an unprecedented challenge for Canadians, newcomers, and Canada’s immigration program – including Express Entry. In 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) pivoted quickly to adapt its Express Entry system to new conditions presented by the pandemic. The validity period of an invitation to apply for permanent residence was increased from 60 to 90 days to provide clients with additional time to prepare their applications, in response new pandemic-related challenges in acquiring the necessary documentation. As well, IRCC targeted its invitations to apply at Canadian Experience Class- and Provincial Nominee Program-eligible candidates, who are more likely to be physically located in Canada and therefore less impacted by border restrictions. Despite the severe and prolonged impacts of COVID-19, 2020 saw more invitations to apply issued via Express Entry than in any previous year.

IRCC also increased the number of points available to French-speaking and bilingual candidates in the Express Entry pool. On October 20, 2020, the number of points awarded through Express Entry increased from 15 to 25 for French-speaking candidates and from 30 to 50 for bilingual candidates. This change increases the likelihood of these candidates receiving an invitation to apply to come to Canada through economic immigration programs, and supports the Government of Canada in achieving its 4.4% target for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec by 2023.

Who submitted an Express Entry profile?

In 2020, 360,998 Express Entry profiles were submitted through the system, which represents an increase of 9% from 2019 and 30% since 2018 (Figure 1). Among profiles submitted in 2020, 74% were eligible for at least one of the federal programs managed by Express Entry (i.e., the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, or the Canadian Experience Class), continuing an upwards trend from 2019 (72%) and 2018 (70%).

As displayed in Table 1, in 2020, more profiles were submitted by men (207,202) than women (153,674). Women submitted a slightly higher proportion of total profiles in 2020 (43%), continuing an upwards trend from 2019 (41%) and 2018 (39%). A higher proportion of profiles submitted in 2020 by women were eligible for at least one program (77%) compared to those submitted by men (71%), as was the case in 2019 (76% vs. 69%) and 2018 (74% vs. 68%).

In 2020, 64 profiles were submitted by people with unspecified genders; 58 profiles were submitted by people who indicated another gender. Because of this small count, the data presented below are not broken down by gender categorized as “unspecified” or “another.”

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary slightly compared to previous years’ reported numbers

Who got into the Express Entry pool?

The distributions of CRS scores for eligible candidate profiles at time of submission are presented in Table 2. In each year, the CRS scores were concentrated in the 301-500 range. 2020 saw a notable increase in of the proportion of eligible candidate profiles in the 451-500 range, to 27% from 18% in 2018 and 22% in 2019. It is important to note that the Express Entry pool is dynamic, and that the distribution of CRS scores changes every time an eligible profile is submitted, updated, or expires.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Among individuals who submitted eligible profiles in 2020, a majority (63%) did not meet criteria for any additional points at the time of submission—this represents a gradual reduction since 2018 (71%) (Table 3)^{Footnote v}. Candidates continued to most often meet criteria for Education in Canada (17%) and Siblings in Canada (13%) points, with Education in Canada experiencing significant growth. The proportion of candidates in the Express Entry pool who met criteria for additional points for having a sibling in Canada and for being proficient in French^{Footnote vi} has remained stable over the last three years, following the introduction of these point types in June 2017.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary a bit compared to previous years’ reported numbers

In 2020, a higher number of men than women did not meet criteria for any additional points at the time of submitting an eligible profile, although this difference has diminished somewhat since 2018 (Table 4).

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary a bit compared to previous years’ reported numbers

Education in Canada and Siblings in Canada were the most common additional point types for which both men and women met criteria in 2020 (Tables 5-8).^{Footnote vii} Although men and women tended to meet criteria for each additional point type in relative proportion to their overall representation among those with eligible profiles, a considerably higher number of men met the criteria for additional points for having arranged employment.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary a bit compared to previous years’ reported numbers

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary a bit compared to previous years’ reported numbers

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary a bit compared to previous years’ reported numbers

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Note that the data is operational and may vary a bit compared to previous years’ reported numbers

Who did we invite to apply for permanent residence through Express Entry?

As displayed in Table 9, IRCC held 37 ITA rounds and issued 107,350 invitations in 2020, an increase of 26% from the 85,300 invitations issued in 2019.^{Footnote viii} In 2020, more than half (54%) of the total invitations issued were under the Canadian Experience Class, a significant increase from 2019 (36%) reflecting IRCC’s shift to Canadian Experience Class-specific rounds of invitations following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Correspondingly, the proportion of 2020 invitations issued under the Federal Skilled Worker Program dropped to 32%, from 45% in 2019; and the proportion of invitations issued under the Provincial Nomination Program also decreased from 18% in 2019 to 13% in 2020.

21 of the 37 rounds of invitations held in 2020 were program-specific, meaning that only candidates eligible for a specific program were invited to apply for permanent residence. 10 of these rounds invited candidates who were Canadian Experience Class-eligible, while 10 other rounds invited candidates who had received provincial nominations. CRS cut-off scores ranged from 687 to 808 for Provincial Nominee Program-specific rounds (median = 719), and from 431 to 467 for Canadian Experience Class-specific rounds ranged (median = 447). There was also one program-specific round for candidates eligible for the Federal Skilled Trades Program, with a cut-off score of 415. These program‑specific ITA rounds were conducted in line with the associated Ministerial Instructions.

Excluding these program-specific ITA rounds, the CRS cut-off score ranged from 468 to 478 in 2020 (median = 471.5), compared to 438 to 475 for non-program-specific ITA rounds in 2019 (median = 461). The rise in the median CRS cut‑off score suggests that the Express Entry pool became more competitive in 2020 for candidates who were eligible to be invited under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Federal Skilled Trades Program, as a result of IRCC’s efforts to target invitations at in-Canada Express Entry candidates.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Overall, as displayed in Tables 10 and 11, in 2020, men received more than half of the invitations issued (57%). This aligns with the higher representation of men in the eligible profiles submitted in 2020 (55%; figures from Table 1). The invitation by program pattern was similar for men and women: both genders received invitations under Canadian Experience Class most often and under Federal Skilled Trades Program least often. While the number of men invited to apply to the Provincial Nominee Program held even with 2019, the number of women invited under the same program dropped by 11%. For both women and men, invitations under the Federal Skilled Trades Program dropped by three-quarters from 2019 to 2020. From 2018 to 2020, 28 invitations were issued to candidates of an unspecified gender and nine invitations were issued to a candidate with another gender. Because of these small counts, the data presented below is not broken down by gender categorized as “unspecified” or “another.” The number of invitations issued to candidates with an unspecified or another gender was 6 in 2018, 5 in 2019 and 26 in 2020.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

The socio-demographic characteristics of the candidates invited to apply for permanent residence shifted significantly from 2019 to 2020, reflecting the impacts of focusing invitations at in-Canada populations (Tables 12 to 15). From 2019 to 2020, the share of invitations issued to candidates aged 20-29 (the age category associated with the highest number of points under the CRS) increased from just over half to almost two-thirds. Candidates invited to apply for permanent residence in 2020 were marginally less well-educated than in previous years, with fewer masters and entry-to-practice graduates receiving invitations; however, overall candidates who received invitations to apply remained highly educated, with more than 90% claiming post-secondary educational credentials of at least three years. In 2020, more invitations went to candidates with one or two years of eligible Canadian work experience, while fewer candidates with significant foreign work experience were invited to apply.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Table 16 provides information on (a) the number of invitations issued to candidates who were assigned additional points in each category and (b) the number of invitations issued to candidates who met relevant criteria for the category but were not necessarily assigned points^{Footnote ix}. For example, in 2020, 17,249 invitations were issued to candidates who met criteria for Arranged Employment points, but only 15,453 of these candidates were actually assigned the associated points. Data are provided for both conditions to facilitate comparison, as well as to reflect the fuller characteristics of candidates who received an invitation to apply for permanent residence^{Footnote x}.

In 2020, less than one third of invitations to apply (28%) were issued on the basis of human capital attributes alone (i.e., to candidates who did not meet criteria for any additional points)—this represents a decrease of 12 percentage points since 2019 (as reported in the 2019 Express Entry Year End Report).

Compared to all candidates who submitted eligible profiles in 2020 (refer to Table 3), a smaller proportion of invited candidates met none of the criteria for additional points (28% vs. 63%). More specifically, a higher proportion of invited candidates met criteria for Arranged Employment points (16% vs. 7%), for Education in Canada points (42% vs. 17%), and for French-language proficiency points (7% vs. 5%), compared to all eligible profiles submitted in 2020. A smaller proportion of invited candidates met criteria for Siblings in Canada points (12%), compared to all eligible profiles submitted (13%).

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Tables 17 to 20 display the number of invitations issued to men and women who met the criteria to receive each additional point type, regardless of whether candidates were actually assigned those points. In general, the proportion of male versus female invited candidates who met the criteria for each additional point type roughly aligns with the proportion of eligible profiles submitted by men and women (e.g., in 2020, 55% of eligible profiles were submitted by men and 45% by women; see Table 1 for figures). However, in 2020 a considerably higher proportion of the candidates with arranged employment points who received an invitation to apply were men (66%) than women (34%).

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Consistent with 2018 and 2019, occupations in information technology, and business and financial services continued to dominate among candidates invited to apply for permanent residence; however, 2020 saw significant growth in occupations such as food service supervisor and administrative assistant—likely resulting from the shift to Canadian Experience Class-specific rounds of invitations following the declaration of the pandemic (Table 21).

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Skill Type 0: management jobs

Skill Level A: professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university

Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice

At the time of invitation, the primary occupations of men and women differed to some extent (Tables 22 to 23). For example, from 2018-2020, the most common occupation among women who received an invitation to apply was Administrative Assistant, which was not among the most common primary occupations for men in 2018 or 2019, and was only tenth-most-common in 2020. In a departure from previous years, 2020 saw equal numbers of higher-skilled occupations among the top 15 most common primary occupations of both men and women invited to apply for permanent residence—however, lower-skilled occupations remained more common for women than for men.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Skill Type 0: management jobs

Skill Level A: professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university

Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Skill Type 0: management jobs

Skill Level A: professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university

Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice

Table 24 displays the most common occupations among candidates who were assigned arranged employment points and were invited to apply in 2020. This sub‑population features a larger proportion of candidates in lower-skilled occupations, such as food service supervisors (12%) and cooks (4%), compared to the full population of candidates who received an invitation to apply for permanent residence in 2020.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Skill Type 0: management jobs

Skill Level A: professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university

Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice

As displayed in Tables 25 and 26, the most common occupations among both men and women who met the criteria for arranged employment points and received an invitation to apply for permanent residence were similar to those observed for the total population of those who met the same criteria. In addition, the most common occupations among invited women with arranged employment points included more lower-skilled occupations in comparison to their male counterparts.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Skill Type 0: management jobs

Skill Level A: professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university

Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Skill Type 0: management jobs

Skill Level A: professional jobs that usually call for a degree from a university

Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades that usually call for a college diploma or training as an apprentice

The five most common countries of residence among candidates who received an invitation to apply remained the same from 2018 to 2020 (Table 27). The proportion of invitations to apply for permanent residence that were issued to candidates who indicated Canada as their country of residence grew from 47% in 2019 to 63% in 2020, reflecting the growth in invitations to apply under the Canadian Experience Class. Over the same period, the proportion of invited candidates who indicated India as their country of residence dropped from 18% to 10%, while the share of invited candidates residing in the United States fell to 7% from 12%.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

As displayed in Tables 28 and 29, the most common countries of residence were similar for both men and women in 2018, 2019, and 2020. In 2020, smaller proportion of women (59%) than men (66%) indicated Canada as their country of residence.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change

As with country of residence, the five most common countries of citizenship among individuals who received an ITA did not change from 2018, to 2019, to 2020 (Table 30). Over the three-year period from 2018-2020, India was the most common country of citizenship of invited candidates by a significant margin (47%), followed by China (7%) and Nigeria (7%). From 2018 to 2020, the proportion of invited candidates who indicated citizenship outside of the ten most common countries remained stable at 25%.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

India, China and Nigeria were the most common countries of citizenship for both men and women who received an invitation to apply for permanent residence in 2020; however, a smaller proportion of invited women (41%) than invited men (52%) held Indian citizenship, while a larger proportion of invited women (11%) than invited men (6%) held Chinese citizenship (Tables 31 and 32).

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Source: IRCC-EDW (MBR) as of January 12, 2021
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

Who applied for permanent residence through Express Entry?

Excluding accompanying family members, i.e., considering only principal applicants, 76,050 applications for permanent residence were sourced through Express Entry in 2020 (Table 33). Among principal applicants, a slightly higher proportion of men (57%) than women (43%) submitted applications in 2020. The application by program pattern was similar for men and women—both genders applied most often under the Canadian Experience Class and least often under the Federal Skilled Trades Program. A greater number of men than women submitted applications for every economic program; this difference was especially pronounced under the Federal Skilled Trade Program and least pronounced under the Federal Skilled Worker Program. One candidate of unknown gender submitted an application for permanent residence in 2020; this individual is included only in the total counts.

Source: IRCC-EDW (CBR) as of January 21, 2021.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

As displayed in Table 34, nearly two thirds of principal applicants (63%) who submitted an application for permanent residence through Express Entry in 2020 indicated Ontario as the province of destination, which is a slight increase from 2019 when 62% of principal applicants indicated the same. Compared to 2019, the number of principal applicants who intended to reside in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, or New Brunswick increased considerably in 2020, while the number or applicants intending to reside in Alberta and Nova Scotia decreased. The number of applicants who intended to reside in Nunavut remained very small.

Source: IRCC-EDW (CBR) as of January 21, 2021.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

How long did it take to process an Express Entry application?

Table 35 displays the time, in months, that IRCC took to process 80% of applications under each program. In 2020, IRCC did not meet the processing standard of finalizing 80% of all applications sourced via Express Entry within six months. 2020’s overall processing time was nine months, an increase of one month from the 2019 overall processing time, reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on IRCC’s operations and processing capacity. As an alternative measure of processing times, 51% of applications finalized in the 12-month period ending on December 31, 2020, were completed within the six-month service standard.

Source: IRCC-EDW (CBR) as of January 21, 2021.

Who was admitted through Express Entry and where were they going?

In 2020, 63,923 principal applicants and their accompanying family members were admitted into Canada as permanent residents through Express Entry (Table 36). By comparison, 109,601 principal applicants and their accompanying family members were admitted in 2019 and 92,229 were admitted in 2018.

From 2018 to 2020, the individuals admitted under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, as a proportion of all individuals admitted in the calendar year, decreased from 50% to 38%. The proportion of individuals admitted under the Canadian Experience Class Program increased, from 30% to 39%. The proportion of those admitted under the Federal Skilled Trades remained at around 1%. The proportion of people admitted under the Provincial Nominee Program remained relatively stable from 2018 (19%) to 2020 (22%).

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.

As displayed in Tables 37 and 38, the pattern of principal applicant admissions by program was similar for men and women in 2020. In 2020, male and female principal applicants were most often admitted under the Canadian Experience Class and least often admitted under the Federal Skilled Trades Program—a shift from 2019, when both men and women were admitted to Canada as principal applicants most often under the Federal Skilled Worker Program. In 2020, one principal applicant who had another gender was admitted to Canada; this individual is included only in the total counts.

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change

As reported in Table 39, India was, by a large margin, the most common country of citizenship among principal applicants and their accompanying family members admitted to Canada through Express Entry in 2018 (43%), 2019 (46%), and 2020 (43%). The proportion of individuals who held Chinese citizenship increased from 6% in 2018 to 7% in 2020. The proportion of individuals admitted through Express Entry who held Nigerian citizenship decreased from 7% in 2018 to 6% in 2020.

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change

Similar to the pattern observed at the application stage, and as in 2018 and in 2019, a majority of persons admitted in 2020 were destined for Ontario (Table 40).

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change.
Note that all values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--”. This is done to prevent individuals from being identified when IRCC data is compiled and compared to other publicly available statistics. Some values are rounded to the closest multiple of 5 for the same reason; as a result of rounding, data may not sum to the totals indicated.

As expected, the concentration of admitted individuals destined for Ontario was less pronounced among the individuals who were selected through the Provincial Nominee Program (Table 41), as compared to those who were selected through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class Program, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (Table 42).

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change

Source: IRCC-CDO (RDM, Permanent Residents) as of December 31, 2020.
Data is operational and as such should be considered preliminary and subject to change

Note that all values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--”. This is done to prevent individuals from being identified when IRCC data is compiled and compared to other publicly available statistics. Some values are rounded to the closest multiple of 5 for the same reason; as a result of rounding, data may not sum to the totals indicated.

Conclusion

In 2020, the sixth year of its operation, the Express Entry application management system continued to provide a pathway to permanent residence for a range of highly-skilled candidates who demonstrated the potential to successfully integrate and contribute to Canada’s economy. To address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, IRCC leveraged the responsiveness and adaptability of the Express Entry system to reduce barriers for clients and to maximize economic immigrant admissions towards the Government of Canada’s targets.

Today, in the context of the ongoing pandemic, the Department continues to monitor Express Entry and to explore ways the system could be used to ensure that Canada continues to derive maximum benefit from economic immigration in a rapidly evolving environment.