6,000 wannabes up for Canada PR, invited in Express Entry draw

June 24, 2021, was another day for Canada to hold an Express Entry draw that invited 6,000 immigration candidates to apply for Canada PR. The ITA was sent through the CEC stream. The CRS score required of the candidates was 357, which was the second-lowest cut-off score ever for a CEC-only draw.

The fall in CRS requirement has been continuing in CEC-only draws. This coincided with IRCC seeking even more candidates already residing inside Canada. IRCC expects this approach to help achieve its goal of bringing in 401,000 new immigrants in 2021.

CEC candidates possess at least a year of experience or work in Canada in a skilled occupation. They also have a minimum intermediate skill level in the English or French language.

In this Express Entry draw, IRCC stipulated a cut-off time for the tie-break rule as a mandatory administrative requirement. Candidates with a minimum score got invitations only if they had submitted their Express Entry profile prior to February 17, 2021, at 10:15:50 UTC.

All-program draw by IRCC

When the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading, IRCC resorted to holding only immigration draws, specifically for PNP and CEC streams. These candidates were more likely to be in Canada already. The quick availability of these candidates in comparison to overseas candidates facing travel restrictions was utilized by IRCC while conducting an Express Entry draw.

Till June 21, 2021, immigration candidates who are approved to be permanent residents had no way to travel to Canada, so that they could complete their immigration process by landing in the country.

Currently, Canada’s travel restrictions are slowly getting lifted even while its border is closed to those on non-essential travel. In the days to come, more travel restrictions could be lifted.

We could hope that IRCC will resume its all-program draws sooner in the second year of 2021. There are 2 reasons for this.

Firstly, there’s the possibility that the people invited for Canada PR in an Express Entry draw in the latter half of 2021 will have their process of permanent residency completed by the end of 2021. This should be read with Canada’s ambitious immigration plans to achieve which IRCC will have to conduct more all-program draws this year itself.

Secondly, much lower COVID-19 disruptions are expected in the months to come. Canada has started lifting its travel restrictions too in tandem with the improvement in the pandemic situation in other countries! Canada will possibly see a larger number of immigrants physically entering the country in order to complete the process of Canada immigration. With waning disruptions, IRCC will possibly be in a better position to take Express Entry candidates abroad into consideration.

Current developments

The federal government has plans to bring in record-breaking numbers of new immigrants in a span of 3 years from now. The number of new immigrants who arrive in Canada in 2021 only through immigration programs managed by Express Entry is supposed to be 108,500.

In 2021, Canada has already invited close to twice the number of Express Entry candidates as was seen at the same time in 2020. The historic February 13 draw contributed immensely to this. In that draw, IRCC invited all candidates in the Express Entry pool eligible for CEC. Their number came to 27,332 people in all. Close to 87% of the invited candidates on that day filed an application for Canada PR before the deadline of 90 days.

In 2021, IRCC has issued 88,715 ITAs so far.

The score requirements of immigration draw differ between CEC-only and PNP-only draws.

PNP candidates are granted 600 extra CRS points when provincially nominated. CEC candidates have no competition going on for invitations from other programs. Hence, IRCC allows cut-off scores to decrease further.

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Note:

PR – Permanent Residence/Permanent Resident

CRS – Comprehensive Ranking System

PNP – Provincial Nominee Program

ITA – Invitation to Apply

IRCC – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

CEC – Canadian Experience Class