Express Entry selects 627 new candidates, offers Canada PR

On July 7, 2021, Canada issued invitations to 627 Express Entry candidates. They were invited to apply for Canada PR.

The chosen candidates were those who had received provincial nominations already from a PNP. For that reason, these candidates required a minimum score of 760 points to qualify.

The cut-off score is high because these candidates have already been granted 600 extra CRS points over their basic score. In the absence of the extra points, the minimum score these candidates would have would be 160.

In this immigration draw, IRCC also implemented a cut-off time to serve the tie-break rule implemented as an administrative requirement. Having a tie-break rule implemented doesn’t always reflect a real tie-break situation. Candidates with the minimum score got invited only after they submitted their Express Entry profile not later than June 14, 2021, at 07:44:05 UTC.

Why are there more PNP candidates in draws held recently?

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic happened, IRCC has been conducting only immigration draws specific to CEC and PNP categories. The reason is that these candidates are possibly already living in Canada. They won’t mostly be affected by public health measures including travel restrictions.

There has been a rise in the number of candidates invited by IRCC in its PNP-specific draws lately. On June 23, 2021, for the first time ever, 1,000 PNP candidates got invited by IRCC. Prior to that, the IRCC had invited 940 Express Entry candidates.

The trend of a high number of candidates could well be Canada’s efforts to reach its ambitious immigration targets for 2021. Canada aims at inviting 401,000 new immigrants to Canada in 2021. Express Entry is the pathway for about a quarter of the targeted number of candidates. So far this year, Canada has issued invitations to 89,342 Express Entry candidates to file applications for Canada PR.

Canada has invited almost 2 times the Express Entry candidates invited at the same time in 2020. The historic immigration draw held on February 13, 2021, helped this to happen. In that draw, IRCC invited all the candidates eligible for the CEC stream. They came to 27,332 people in all. Close to 87% of those invited in the February 13 draw, applied for Canada PR before the 90-day deadline, as IRCC would report.

The score requirements of CEC-only and PNP-only draws are starkly different. CEC draws have lower cut-offs. The reason is that, unlike PNP candidates, CEC candidates aren’t in competition for invitations from other programs.

In the case of PNP draws, the cut-offs are higher due to the extra 600 points awarded to provincially nominated candidates.

About Express Entry

Here are some facts about the Express Entry system:

• It’s a points-based application management system.
• It manages applications for the 3 high-skilled federal immigration programs. These include FSTP, FSWP, and CEC.
• Express Entry profiles could also be accessed and selected by PNPs to invite immigration candidates to submit applications for a provincial nomination.
• Profiles are ranked and assigned scores by CRS.
• Eligible candidates for an immigration program managed by Express Entry get a CRS score on the basis of skilled work experience, education, official language skills, age, and other factors.
• Regular rounds of invitation are held by IRCC. In them, ITAs are issued to apply for Canada PR to candidates who scored the highest.
• Once the decision from IRCC on an immigration application is affirmative, the candidate just needs land in Canada to complete the immigration formalities.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

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Note:

PR – Permanent Residence/Permanent Resident

CRS – Comprehensive Ranking System

PNP – Provincial Nominee Program

ITA – Invitation to Apply

IRCC – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

FSWP – Federal Skilled Worker Program

FSTP – Federal Skill Trades Program

CEC – Canadian Experience Class