In 2023, IRCC has opted to prioritize Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) jobs among the five occupational categories in its Express Entry category-based draws. This underscores Canada’s growing demand for STEM workers in Express Entry and their crucial role in the nation’s economy and innovation landscape. These draws provide STEM professionals with a distinctive chance to attain permanent residency in Canada. They, in turn, contribute to the nation’s technological progress and economic development. It signifies Canada’s commitment to attracting and retaining top talent in STEM fields through the Express Entry immigration system.
The Canadian government started using category-based drawings for Express Entry earlier this year as part of its immigration screening procedure. Express Entry aims to identify immigrants meeting specific criteria related to education, work experience, and language proficiency. As well as these criteria align with Canada’s economic priorities and needs.
The federal government determined five priority occupational categories confronting labor market deficiencies after seeking input from a wide variety of stakeholders and the general public. Healthcare, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), transportation, trades, and agriculture/agri-food are some of these categories.
In contrast to regular Express Entry draws, category-based draws provide candidates with particular work experience extra weight and priority. In contrast, ordinary Express Entry draws choose immigrants for Canadian permanent residency mostly based on their CRS score. By focusing on applicants with knowledge and experience in important industries, this novel strategy strives to satisfy labor market needs.
The reason STEM was chosen as a targeted category for Express Entry
A skills gap in Canada’s STEM employment was noted in a report from Statistics Canada published in late 2022. High retirement rates, coupled with rapid technological advancements and automation, are the primary causes of this divide. These factors are transforming both business and daily life.
The demand for computer specialists has been increasing as Canada’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector has seen impressive growth. The nation ranked fourth in the world for innovation, implementation, and investment competitiveness according to the Global AI Index.
The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, the Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, highlighted Canada’s advantages in luring top talent. He emphasized the significance of the new STEM-focused category-based selection process, which is intended to support the science and technology industry by luring in even more highly qualified individuals. Moreover, this program intends to promote industry growth potential and innovation.
Minister Champagne added that Canada is the world’s top location for founding and growing technology enterprises because of its exceptional power to attract talent and its entrepreneurial innovation capabilities.
Canada’s demand for STEM workers in Express Entry
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is in charge of running the Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS). Over the span of 2022 to 2031, COPS offers insights into the employment outlook for various occupations. Additionally, it forecasts the anticipated job opportunities within specific professions.
The following STEM professions’ employment outlooks:
- Software engineers and designers are poised to experience a surge of 44,300 new job opportunities.
- The field of computer programming and interactive media development is set to witness an influx of approximately 80,500 fresh job openings.
- In the realm of civil engineering, there is an anticipation of 26,100 new employment prospects.
- The field of mechanical engineering is predicted to bring forth 12,700 new job openings.
- Industrial and manufacturing engineering is expected to offer around 3,800 additional job opportunities.
- Electrical and electronics engineering is forecasted to provide 12,600 new employment options.
- Mathematicians, statisticians, and actuaries are estimated to encounter 4,600 fresh job prospects.
- Technical occupations in physical sciences are expected to create 12,200 new job openings.
These figures make it clear that Canada will need to accept hundreds of thousands of highly qualified STEM workers in order to fill impending job openings and reduce the country’s labor shortfall.
What does this signify for potential immigrants to Canada?
It is interesting to observe a pattern in Express Entry’s year-end report for 2022 regarding the top three occupations for which candidates receive ITAs. Software engineers, information systems professionals, and computer systems developers and programmers dominated the Express Entry invitee pool in 2022, with software engineers and designers leading the way.
Therefore, category-based Express Entry draws designed exclusively for STEM employees may be a compelling option for qualified STEM professionals interested in relocating to Canada. These highly qualified people have the capacity to fill labor market gaps and make a substantial contribution to the expansion of Canada’s STEM industry. They can start fulfilling professions in Canada at the same time, benefiting both the country and skilled immigrants.
STEM Express Entry’s historical results
The IRCC has only ever held one round of drawings specifically for qualified people working in the STEM professions. On July 5th, Canadian authorities randomly selected 500 immigrants with STEM employment experience to submit applications for Canadian permanent residence. Candidates had to have a minimum CRS score of 486 to be eligible for this draw.
