1,000 invitations sent under Canada's first Express Entry draw for immigrant education professionals

The ‘education occupation category’ was added in Canada’s Express Entry programme in February 2025, and priority was given to those who had a working experience in Canada.

Canada, for the first time, has sent out invitations to foreign nations to apply for foreign residency under its latest Education Occupations category.

Under this, 1,000 Express Entry invitations were sent to eligible foreigners on May 1.

The ‘education occupation category’ was added in Canada’s Express Entry programme in February 2025, and priority was given to those who had working experience in Canada, as per a report in the Financial Express.

The Express Entry education stream has been created to take care of the critical shortage of education professionals in Canada.

Candidates were eligible for this category if they had six months or more of full-time work experience, or equivalent part-time experience in the given occupations:

1. Early childhood educators or assistants

2. Elementary and Secondary school teacher assistants

3. Elementary school and kindergarten teachers

4. Instructors of persons with disabilities

5. Secondary school teachers

The candidate had to have their experience in the preceding three years on the date the category was announced. Along with this, they must also have a minimum CRS score of 479, and a valid Express Entry profile.

It also sought the candidates to have adhered to the occupational descriptions of the National Occupational Classification.

Canada uses the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to rank skilled worker candidates who wish to immigrate to the country through Express Entry.

As per their Canada Visa websites, CRS awards candidates a score based on their age, education, language skills, and work experience.

Skilled workers with the highest CRS are invited to immigrate to Canada.

Meanwhile, the immigration system in Canada was much talked about last year, even as then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted that his government made "mistakes" in its immigration policy, which led to "bad actors" like "fake colleges" and big corporations exploiting the system for their vested interests.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller had also said last year that Canada will admit approximately 3,95,000 permanent residents in 2025

Trudeau had said the cut on the cap on immigrants coming to Canada was necessary to address its housing crisis and cost-of-living issues.

(With PTI Inputs)