Last week an internal IRCC briefing memo was made public, creating speculation and confusion on how Canada’s immigration department will manage Express Entry in 2022 and beyond.
Signed on November 24, 2021, the IRCC briefing provides background information on why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has not issued Express Entry invitations to Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) candidates since December 2020 and to Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates since September 2021. The briefing is heavily redacted so it is not possible to draw firm conclusions from it. Despite its ambiguous nature, the briefing indicates the pause is to allow IRCC to reduce its application backlogs so it can eventually get closer to its stated service standard of processing Express Entry applications within six months. Processing times are currently longer as the department plays catch up. The memo should be seen as an extension of another IRCC memo reported on by CIC News in the fall