The CRS score requirement has been dropped by 39 points compared to the last PNP-specific draw.

On May 26, Canada invited 500 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residency.

Express Entry candidates have to be nominated by a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) – in order to be invited. Because they would have received 600 points automatically as a consequence of the PNP, the minimum score needed was 713. The lowest-scoring applicant without the nomination would have had a score of 113.

Canada invited 57 fewer applicants than in the previous PNP-only draw, and the score requirement was dropped by 39 points.

As an administrative requirement, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sets a cut-off time for the tie-break rule, regardless of whether there was an actual tie. Applicants with the minimum score were only invited to the new draw provided they submitted their Express Entry profile before April 6, 2021, at 09:50:14 UTC.

The CRS score requirements for PNP-only and CEC-only drawings are significantly different. This is due to the fact that PNP applicants are entitled for a 600-point reward. CEC applicants are invited in large numbers and do not compete for invitations to other programs. The larger the draw size, the more top-scoring applicants receive invites, resulting in a lower CRS cut-off. The CRS requirement was dropped to 397 in the previous CEC-only draw.