Syed Khan – 21 July 2021
Canada invited 462 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence on July 21. All of the invited candidates have previously received a nomination from a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). The cut-off score was 734. In the previous PNP draw, 627 candidates were invited. The score requirement was 760. The new draw rendered fewer invitations and also a lower score cutoff.
What is Express Entry?
Express Entry is a points-based system that manages immigration applications for the three Federal High Skilled programs, which include the:
- Canadian Experience Class
- Federal Skilled Worker Program
- Federal Skilled Trades Program
Some PNPs also use Express Entry to invite candidates to apply for a provincial nomination.
If you are eligible for an Express Entry-managed program, you will get a score based on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS awards points based on skilled work experience, education, age, official language skills, and other factors.
The difference between PNP and CEC draws:
PNP and CEC draws have very drastic scoring requirements. PNP candidates automatically get 600 points added to their score, unlike CEC candidates. CEC candidates are not competing for invitations from other programs. As a result, IRCC takes more off the top allowing for cutoff scores to dip into the lower levels.
How the pandemic has affected draws?
Due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the IRCC has been holding only PNP- and Canadian Experience Class (CEC)-specific draws as the candidates invited are likely to already be living in Canada, and do not have to undergo travel and other procedures.
Canada set a target to welcome 401,000 new immigrants to Canada this year, according to its immigration levels plan. All this, provided that the number of cases of COVID-19 and its variants is kept at a minimum. So far, Canada has invited 94,304 Express Entry candidates to apply. Around 100,000 people are expected to come through the Express Entry system. This year, Canada has doubled the number of Express Entry candidates compared to last year.
This large number comes from the historic February 13 draw where IRCC invited every CEC-eligible candidate in the pool, a total of 27,332 people. 87% of those invited that day applied for permanent residence before the 90-day deadline, according to an IRCC email.
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