Canada sent 44,124 invites to Express Entry applicants in the 1st quarter of 2021, and it is by far the largest count since the inception of Express Entry.
Express Entry is the primary pathway into Canada for economic class immigrants. Express Entry is a two-step process. The first one is to become eligible for any of the skilled workers’ programs. There are three skilled workers programs. If qualified, applicants can create a profile on the official portal, where they are given a score based on the demographics they provide.
In the second step, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducts a draw and invites applicants to apply for permanent residence (PR). Usually, IRCC used to conduct draws every two weeks and sent invites to applicants with higher scores, but it changed during the pandemic.
At present, IRCC is focusing on inviting the applicants already living in Canada, and for a while, they have been conducting just program-specific draws.
Program-specific draws
The country has been conducting Express Entry draws even during the pandemic and with travel restrictions in place.
The travel restrictions provide an exemption to certain individuals. For example, a family member of Canadian citizen/permanent residents, a few skilled workers, and selected international students are exempt from it. However, a few exceptions, like recently approved economic class immigrants from foreign countries, did not make it to Canada.
As an alternative, the country started conducting program-specific draws. In such draws, IRCC is sending invites to those who are needed for labor market needs or living in Canada at present. The policy shift is likely to affect most of the individuals under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). They have the majority of the share of immigrants who got PR before the pandemic.
IRCC has been switching between Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws in the first quarter. The country was able to conduct 10 draws in the first 3 months, where 6 were for PNP and 4 were CEC-specific. The invitation tally stood at 41,708 for the CEC pool and 2,416 for PNP applicants.
Except for Quebec and Nunavut, every province has PNP in operation. The provinces and territories hope to board new skilled workers that will eventually support their economies. For individuals who have worked or studied in Canada, CEC could be a good pathway for them. Applicants under CEC should have at least 12 months of work experience and meet the language ability threshold.
The largest draw of the quarter
On 13th February, IRCC conducted a historic draw and sent out 27,332 invites. The second-largest draw had 5000 invites sent to applicants.
In this historic draw, only CEC applicants were invited. That could be another reason for such a high count because the applicants needed the lowest CRS score till now as the bar was set for just 75. Usually, every draw had around 400 scores to get the invite.
Tdraw’saw’s invites are 62% of the total tally for the 1st quarter. Usually, IRCC was sending this many invites in a three months period.
Last year, 22,600 invites were sent in the first quarter, almost half of this year.
Bold actions are being taken to compensate for the last year’s deficit. Since 1998, 2020 was the dullest year for Canada’s immigration.
Canada is expecting to aboard 401,000 new immigrants by the end of this year. Express Entry is expected to make around 1/4th of the total count.
The dynamic movement of the pandemic has left Canada with CEC candidates. IRCC believes that most of them are already living in the country.
Express Entry-aligned PNP
A few provinces have aligned their PNP to Express Entry. That allows provinces to invite applicants in the Express Entry pool and offer them provincial nominations.
That helps the applicants by adding 600 points to their CRS scores. The addition somehow ensures their chances of getting the invite to the upcoming draw.
In 2021, Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan have nominated candidates for their provinces.
Quarter 2 and beyond
Canada started the 2nd quarter by sending 5000 invites on 1st April. That was a CEC-specific draw.
If IRCC follows the same pattern as last year, there will be program-specific draws going forward. However, in the 2nd half of 2020, IRCC switched to all programs, and that is likely to happen in 2021 as well.
The aim would be to invite as many applicants to PNP and CEC in the first half of the year. That will make sure that the country has sufficient immigrants to land by the end of the year. And if the travel restrictions are lifted in the 2nd half so they can focus on the rest of the applicants as well, for example, FSWP.
After conducting the historic draw, IRCC hopes to aboard foreign nationals once the pandemic allows everyone to breathe and calms down.
Thanks to major Vaccine shipments, Canada is expecting to vaccinate the whole population by summer. So hope is on the horizon for candidates living overseas and Canada’s economy.
