Canada launches new ‘Express Entry’ immigration system

Canada started the year 2015 with the launch of a new immigration system that will ease the entry of young migrants with high professional qualifications, a substitute for the highly criticised immigration system that was in effect throughout 2014.

The “Express Entry” system was established on January 1, giving priority to those people who already have job offers in the country.

Express Entry is the direct consequence of the failed Temporary Foreign Worker Program created by the government of Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to satisfy the demands of the Canadian labour market.

According to official figures, while in 2002, Canada accepted some 100,000 temporary foreign workers, mostly to work in agriculture or in remote areas, in 2012, the figure tripled to more than 330,000 workers, many for jobs in fast-food chains.