On January 7, Canada held yet another Express Entry draw – the second invitation round within two days.
A total of 4,750 Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates were issued invitations. A 461 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score was sufficient to secure an Invitation to Apply (ITA). (ITA).
The details of the draw have been announced today on, 8 January 2021.
Canada started the new year two days ago, issuing invites to Express Entry candidates with provincial nominations. In the January 6 draw, a total of 250 candidates were invited by Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and a minimum score of 813 was required.
Candidates who have earned nominations from an Express Entry-aligned Provincial Nominee Program (PNPs) are automatically awarded 600 points to their final CRS score, which is why the score requirement compared to other invitation rounds is significantly higher. It might be too early to say whether the IRCC would revert to organising only program-specific drawings, as it did in the aftermath of the pandemic last year and when Canada first closed its borders.
Between March and August, IRCC was organizing CEC program-specific draws. They would take place immediately after PNP-specific draws, and a round number will usually be added to the number of ITAs from the two draws combined. IRCC returned to all-program drawings by the end of 2020, with some of the highest numbers of invites ever given and CRS cut-off scores gradually declining.
Express Entry is a system used by the federal government to handle applications for the three primary class programs in Canada: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). There are also immigration streams in most provinces that are associated with the Express Entry system. Candidates are rated on the basis of their CRS score in the Express Entry system, which takes into account several criteria, including their age, work experience, education and French or English proficiency. The date and time at which the Express Entry profile was generated is also a ranking variable in some cases.
Unlike all-program invitation rounds, where draws from the entire Express Entry pool and tend to result in higher cut-off scores, program-specific drawings will yield lower cut-off scores when they include a limited pool of candidates, like the one specifically targeting CEC candidates today.
Today’s draw saw the rule of tie-break enforced. Based on the date and time the profile was generated, the tie-break rule is used to classify candidates who have the same CRS score (at the cut-off). On September 12, 2020, at 20:46:32 UTC, the tie-breaking rule for today’s draw was implemented. This suggests that candidates with a CRS score of 461 were invited only if their profile had been submitted prior to that date and time.
This draw takes the total number of invites to 5,000 in 2021.
Under the 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada has targeted the arrival of some 110,000 Express Entry immigrants each year.
Despite the coronavirus-related restrictions in effect, candidates who wish to apply their Express Entry profile can still do so. IRCC continues to accept Express Entry system submissions.
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