Canada held its 163rd Express Entry draw, on September 16, allowing immigrant applicants to apply for permanent residency.
Invitations were given to candidates with Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores of 472 in the latest Express Entry round. This is three points lower than the previous all-program draw, the highest drop since all-program drawings resumed in July.
This draw issued for a total of 4,200 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for Canadian permanent residency, the second all-program draw that Canada conducted in two weeks ‘ time. This trend is more consistent with invitation rounds pre-coronavirus, where all-program draws were held every two weeks.
This draw matches the 4,200 ITAs issued on September 2, in an Express Entry round that ties it for the second-biggest draw ever. The largest draw was issued on February 19 by 4,500 ITAs. Canada’s large number of invites is a clear sign that it stays committed to accepting high immigration numbers in 2021 and beyond.
Express Entry is the application system that handles the candidate pool for the three major economic immigration classes of Canada — the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
In frequent invitation rounds, ITAs are given to the highest ranking candidates in the Express Entry pool. A set number of the highest-ranking candidates are invited to apply for permanent residency in Canada by these frequent draws. Usually, these invitation rounds take place every two weeks and the vast majority include candidates from all three classes handled by Express Entry.
Today’s draw sets a new record for this date to 74,150, the highest number of ITAs issued this year.
In today’s draw, IRCC implemented its tie-break rule. The timestamp used was at 13:03:40 UTC, March 9, 2020. This means that in this invitation round, all candidates with a CRS score above 472, as well as those candidates with scores of 472 who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before the date and time selected, received an ITA.
To rank candidates that have the same CRS score, the tie-break rule is used. The primary consideration in choosing candidates to be eligible to apply for permanent residence remains the CRS score of a candidate.
The size of the draw (larger draws can produce a lower minimum CRS score) and the time between draws (shorter periods between draws can help to reduce the CRS score) are variables that can influence the cut-off CRS score.
Under the CRS of Express Entry, qualifying candidates for each class are given a score that awards points for criteria such as age, education, skilled work experience and English or French proficiency. Although a job offer is not necessary to apply under the Express Entry system, additional points are awarded to the final CRS scores of candidates with one.
For permanent residence applications submitted via the Express Entry system , the Government of Canada has a processing standard of six months.
Need more insights on the same? Get in touch with immigration consultants in Delhi.
