Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) administered the second draw on the 21st of January. That was for the Express Entry scheme.
The federal department invited 4,626 candidates of the Canadian Experience Class to appeal for the PR (permanent residence). The minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) required to get the invite was 454 points.
The CRS cut-off score in the second Express Entry draw was seven points lower than the cut-off score for the previous CEC-specific draw at 461 points conducted on 7th January.
Since 2015, the Express Entry immigration system has been the primary pathway to managing applications for skilled workers in Canada.
As per the 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan, the country is expecting to onboard around 110,000 candidates by Express Entry every year. The country came near to this target last year when it issued 107,350 PR invitations. The government keeps stressing the point that they will keep inviting global skills to support their economy during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Express Entry consists of two different steps during the process. First of all, eligible applicants under any of the above-mentioned programs will have to update their profiles on the official immigration website. After they update their profile, they receive the CRS points on the basis of their age, language skill, education level, and work experience.
The IRCC conducts around every two weeks in step two. The selected ones from the draw get the Invitation to Apply (ITA) for PR. The invites are sent to applicants with the highest CRS score. If any individual receives an ITA, he/she can apply for PR by submitting the application to the IRCC.
The draw conducted today was the fourth one of this year. On 20th January, the draw was conducted for Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
Candidates obtain extra 600 CRS points if they possess a provincial nomination aligned with Express Entry. That exponentially ensures that the candidate will receive an ITA to apply for PR in Canada.
Till now, any all-program draw has not been conducted in 2021.
The return of these specific draws such as PNP and CEC is powerful evidence that the government will rely heavily on applicants of Express Entry currently in the country to work and get its objectives for 2021. Also, it is likely that FSWP and FSTP applicants will also be considered for draws related to the Express Entry system this year, even throughout the coronavirus outbreak. In 2020, the federal department conducted these specific draws when the outbreak started but concluded the year by conducting various all-program draws, allowing FSWP and FSTP candidates to likewise receive ITAs.
A hypothetical presentation for the candidates who got the ITA in today’s draw.
Ramesh is 28 years old. He is single and professionally a business analyst. He completed his bachelor’s from Russia and his Master’s from Canada. Ramesh has three years of work experience in Canada. He got IELTS scores close to CLB 7.5 in writing and CLB 8.5 in reading, listening, and speaking. Ramesh’s 473 CRS score would have helped me get an ITA in today’s draw.
