The main way Canada and the federal government identifies and selects skilled workers is through the federal Express Entry application management system. About half are welcomed by the federal department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), while the other half are identified by Canadian provinces and territories. The selection of skilled workers is split between Canada's federal and provincial governments. Today, Canada aims to welcome over 400,000 new immigrants per year, of whom, some 60 per cent arrive as skilled workers. Skilled workers are the backbone of Canada's immigration system. This model has since become the norm across all of the Canadian skilled worker programs that have launched since 1967, and has also been adopted by countries around the world. Rather than using subjective criteria, Canada evaluated all candidates equally, based on the likes of their age, education, occupation, and language skills. Recognizing the flaws of this approach, Canada launched the FSWP to become more objective in how it assessed candidates. Up until that point, Canada selected skilled workers from overseas based on its discretion, namely the Canadian government's perception of whether a candidate could integrate into the labour market. The FSWP, which exists to this day, was revolutionary and innovative. In 1967, Canada became the first country in the world to launch a merit-based points system by introducing the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).

Federal express