How The New NOC Version Improved Express Entry?

The Canadian economy recovered from COVID-19 the quickest among other advanced countries but faced severe labour shortage which created concern for both businesses and workers in the country. The most immigrants Canada had ever admitted in a single year was 405,000 last year. With the government’s sustaining ambition to immigrate nearly 1,500,000 people by 2025, the country is now focusing on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.

Express Entry is an online system used by the government of Canada to manage the immigration applications for skilled workers. It enables individuals to submit profiles according to their qualifications, schooling, and career history to accrue points using a particular calculation method. Candidates receive points based on several characteristics and are ranked according to the attributes they possess, the profiles that receive the highest scores are then encouraged to apply for permanent residency in Canada.

The Express Entry manages 3 immigration programs:

• Canadian Experience Class

• For individuals / skilled workers who have prior Canadian work experience.
• For individuals / skilled workers with 3 years work experience prior application submission.

• Federal Skilled Worker Program

• For individuals / skilled workers with foreign work experience.
• Skilled workers must meet criteria for education and other factors.

• Federal Skilled Trades Program

• For skilled workers who are qualified in any sort of skilled trade.
• Applicant must have a valid job offer or a certificate of qualification.

What is National Occupational Classification (NOC)?

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is a comprehensive taxonomy of all jobs in the Canadian labour market. The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is a cooperative effort of Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) which organises more than 30,000 occupational titles into 500 Unit Groups, each of which is divided into 4 skill levels and 10 skill kinds. However, its structure is set to be revised every 10 years and the latest 2021 version is a structural revision.

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) undergoes a significant structural change every 10 years during which the Classification’s framework and the currently recognised occupational categories are examined. This 10-year cycle’s output, the NOC 2021, will take these changes in the economy and the nature of work into account.

A major revision cycle that involved in-depth research, analysis, and assessment of the input received through consultations and occupational research is what led to the NOC 2021. The revision process relies on input from the public and stakeholders.

The NOC 2021 was developed in partnership with Statistics Canada and published on Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) website with effect from November 16^th.

The addition, aggregation, merger, and splitting of unit groups, as well as the rearrangement of specific groups within broad occupational categories and Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) categories are included in the latest version of the NOC.  The new NOC 2021 includes the introduction of a new six-category system that represents the level of Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) which is an upgrade from the older four-category NOC “Skill level” structure. It also adopts a five-tiered hierarchical arrangement of occupational groups with successive levels of disaggregation which contains broad occupational categories, major groups, sub-major groups, minor groups, and unit groups as well. The older four-digit system is replaced by a new five-digit codification system.

The NOC classifications are primarily structural and immigration applicants in most occupations are not expected to be adversely affected, but with NOC 2021 the eligibility cut-off score for Express Entry will become TEER 3 and this has resulted in 16 new occupations becoming eligible and three becoming ineligible, this is great news to applicants who come under the newly eligible NOC codes.    

The eligible occupations are as follows:

• Payroll administrators (NOC 13102, previously NOC 1432)
• Dental assistants and dental laboratory assistants (NOC 33100, previously NOC 4311)
• Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates (NOC 33102, previously NOC 3413)
• Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants (NOC 33103, previously NOC 3219)
• Elementary and secondary school teacher assistants (NOC 43100, previously NOC 4413)
• Sheriffs and bailiffs (NOC 43200, previously NOC 4421)
• Correctional service officers (NOC 43201, previously NOC 4422)
• By-law enforcement and other regulatory officers (NOC 43202, previously NOC 4423)
• Estheticians, electrologists and related occupations (NOC 63211, previously NOC 6562)
• Residential and commercial installers and servicers (NOC 73200, previously NOC 7441)
• Pest controllers and fumigators (NOC 73202, previously NOC 7444)
• Other repairers and servicers (NOC 73209, previously NOC 7445)
• Transport truck drivers (NOC 73300, previously NOC 7511)
• Bus drivers, subway operators and other transit operators (NOC 73301, previously NOC 7512)
• Heavy equipment operators (NOC 73400, previously NOC 7521)
• Aircraft assemblers and aircraft assembly inspectors (NOC 93200, previously NOC 9521)

The occupations below have become ineligible for the express entry:

• Other performers (NOC 55109, previously NOC 5232)
• Program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness (NOC 54100, previously NOC 5254)
• Tailors, dressmakers, furriers and milliners (NOC 64200, previously NOC 6342)

The new NOC 2021 resulted in several changes to the professions themselves in addition to these significant changes to the classification’s structure.  For rising professions like data scientists and cybersecurity experts, new unit groupings were developed. The information technology industry, the health and agricultural industries, as well as the postal services and the military vocations, all saw major reform. With these adjustments to the occupations, we hope to maintain the categorization current with developments in the labour market.

Contact us to know if you qualify to migrate to Canada. Check out Owlspriority Immigration’s Canada Settlement Resources to learn about finding employment in Canada, making your initial days stress-free, etc.