Express Entry Immigrants to Canada: Who Are They, and Where Are They Going?

New data shows that Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta remain the most popular destinations for new immigrants to Canada who arrive through the Express Entry selection system.

In addition, around one-in-three invited candidates were citizens of India, reflecting that country’s increasingly strong relationship with Canada. The other 67 percent of candidates were citizens of many other countries around the world, as reflected in the table below. It should be noted that around one-third of invited candidates in 2016 were from a country not listed in these tables.

Source: IRCC

These details were revealed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in a wide-ranging year-end report covering 2016, which was published this week.

There may be some correlation between the fact that India has a growing pool of skilled, mobile IT professionals, and the fact that IT workers were the most invited occupations in 2016. Information Systems Analysts and Consultants, Software Engineers, and Computer Programmers and Interactive Media Developers were three most popular occupations among invited candidates last year.

As for destination provinces, the fact that Ontario, BC, and Alberta have come out on top again is perhaps no surprise. According to IRCC, ‘This aligns with destination provinces prior to Express Entry and has been explained by a combination of community connections, services, infrastructure, and jobs.’

*Quebec operates its own economic immigration programs not connected with Express Entry.

To learn more about these provinces and territories, click on any of the links below:

To read more about IRCC’s year-end Express Entry report for 2016, please refer to the following articles on CICNews.com:

To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form.