The province of Ontario conducted its first Tech draw on this July 12. In the draw, a total of 1,623 candidates who had entered the Express Entry pool before the timestamp of the Tech draw was invited to apply a provincial nomination certificate by the province.

What this means is that once a profile is shortlisted by the province, a Notification of Interest (NOI) will be issued to the profile owner. Upon receipt of the NOI from the province, the candidate can then apply for a provincial nomination certificate. The total CRS points that can be earned by such provincial nominations is 600. So, irrespective of the CRS score of the candidate without a nomination certificate, a provincial nomination is a sure path towards Canadian permanent residence taking into consideration the current Express Entry cut-off CRS draw trends.

Candidates who received invitations in the July 12 draw were those whose Express Entry CRS scores ranged from 439 to 459, and, who were placed in the Express Entry pool between July 12, 2018, to July 12, 2019.

According to sources (the CBRE Group), Tech companies in Toronto alone created more tech jobs opportunities than the San Francisco Bay area (USA) in 2017.

How the Ontario Tech Draw works?

The Tech draws are conducted through the province’s Human Capital Priorities Steam. The Category A of the Human Capital Priorities Steam require the applicant to have a job offer from a Canadian employer. The Tech Draw category specifically target Express Entry candidates who are active in the Express Entry pool, and, who have at least 1 year of work experience in the last 10 years in one (or more) of the below 6 tech occupations:

• Computer and information systems managers (NOC 0213)
• Computer engineers (NOC 2147)
• Database analysts and data administrators (NOC 2172)
• Software engineers and designers (NOC 2173)
• Computer programmers and interactive media developers (NOC 2174)
• Web designers and developers (NOC 2175)

The abbreviation NOC above stands for the Canadian National Occupational Classification. The current version of NOC used is NOC version 2016.1.

Other News Articles that you may find resourceful:

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121st Express Entry Draw | IRCC Issues a Staggering 3,600 Invitations