Canada Express Entry Candidates Face Technical Challenges, IRCC Issues Statement

Technical Issues Affecting Express Entry in Canada

According to an Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) spokesperson quoted on CIC News on 14 December, following the rollout of the National Occupation Classification (NOC) 2021 in Canada, Express Entry has experienced IT issues. Participants in Provincial Nominee Programs via Express Entry are included in this (PNP).

Despite IRCC’s claims that it is thoroughly investigating these issues and working to resolve them, no timeline for these fixes has been provided.

According to IRCC, clients are sometimes told by the system that they do not have enough Canadian work experience despite meeting the Minimum Entry Criteria (MEC) of the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Provincial Nominee Program Participants Impacted

Because of this error, several ITAs were issued incorrectly to applicants during the round of invitations on November 23, including some PNP applicants.

The system error has also impacted PNP candidates who are attempting to update their Express Entry profile to reflect the transition to NOC 2021.

It is unknown whether the missed Express Entry draw last week on December 7th was related to these technical issues. After an 18-month break beginning in December 2020, Express Entry draws for all programmes resumed in July of this year. Since the resume of draws, the IRCC has been inviting candidates every two weeks on Wednesdays.

The anticipated draw on December 7th did not take place, and candidates expressed their displeasure on social media.

According to IRCC ministerial instructions, draws will take place “about every two weeks,” per the CIC News. There is no law dictating the frequency or day of the draws, though they have traditionally occurred on Wednesdays. The IRCC is free to make whatever decisions it wants.

Canada has extended invitations to more applicants with each draw. Eleven draws have taken place since July. The most recent two draws, on November 9 and November 23, drew 4,750 candidates.

National Occupational Classification 2021

IRCC made the transition from NOC 2016 to NOC 2021 official on November 16, 2022. Express Entry candidates must have work experience in NOC 2016 skill types 0, A, or B. For NOC 2021, IRCC has implemented the Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities (TEER) system.

The old NOC system would be replaced with the new NOC and the Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) system with this modification.

Candidates who had already submitted a profile to the IRCC Express Entry pool were invited to independently change their NOCs to the new NOC 2021.

(With Inputs From CIC News)