The government of Canada recently broadened national occupational classification (NOC) by adding 16 new occupations under which immigrants will be eligible for application to permanent residency in Canada. This step, effective from November 16, has been taken to tackle the growing labor shortage crisis in Canada by welcoming skilled immigrants. The new addition to the eligibility criteria of Express Entry is aimed at strengthening Canada’s workforce across high-demand industries like health care, transport, and construction.
New Occupations include Elementary and Secondary school teachers, Nurses, Hospital attendants, Truck Drivers
A few of the 16 new occupations added to the list of Express Entry eligibility criteria include elementary and secondary school teacher assistants, nurse aides, hospital attendants, and truck drivers. Experts state that this will lead to a huge immigration flow into Canada from India, especially in the occupations of nurse aids and truck drivers.
Program Leaders in recreation, tailors, dress makers etc removed from list of Occupations
However, due to its lack of efficiency in bringing immigrants to Canada, occupations like program leaders in recreation, sport and fitness, tailors, and dressmakers have been removed from the list of occupations under the Express Entry route.
In Express Entry, skilled immigrants are allowed to apply for permanent residency status in a point-based system. It calculates the CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) score of the application. After it was resumed in July, the minimum eligibility CRS score has gone below 500. According to the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025, Canada is preparing to welcome 465,000 immigrants in 2023.