Historical note: this thread uses the old 4-digit NOC system (2174 = software engineers) and describes draw patterns from its own time; frequencies and cut-offs are time-bound and must be re-verified.An applicant asked whether anyone with NOC 2174 had been nominated by a province recently. What the thread established:
- Ontario's tech draws regularly include this NOC. The most substantive answer: OINP's tech draws "always" include software occupations, ran about three times the previous year, and generally happen every one to two months. If your occupation is software, OINP tech draws are the primary passive nomination channel — you're selected from the Express Entry pool without needing a job offer.
- But the effective CRS bar was ~460. A member confirmed OINP nominated the NOC in the last tech draw but noted it required a CRS around 460. Members at 445 considered themselves too low for both OINP tech draws and FSW at the time — a realistic calibration point for anyone banking on this route.
- Job offers from abroad are hard. A side-thread asked whether you can get a Canadian job offer while outside Canada; nobody offered a success story, underscoring why pool-based draws (OINP tech, SINP occupation lists — one member had 86 SINP points) matter more for outland software applicants than offer-based streams.
- If you're below the bar: the thread's implied playbook is to raise CRS (language retakes, spouse factors) and keep profiles active in points-based provincial systems like SINP in parallel.