Despite the Corona outbreak, Canada has issued more than 30,000 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residence (PR) to Express Entry candidates. In the latest draw, the invitation has been sent to 3,508 immigration applicants and their family members to apply for Canadian PR.
These ITAs for Canadian PR were issued to the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program applicants with Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores of 431. It is the lowest CRS for this program since 31st May 2017 when the CRS score was just 413. This latest draw follows a total number of ITAs 392 issued to Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applicants a few days ago, bringing the total number of issued ITAs over the past few days to 3,900.
Express Entry System of Canada manages the candidates’ profile for three of the most economic-class immigration programs of the country – the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and Federal Skilled Trade Class (FST). Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have been focusing on CEC and PNP applicants over the past 3-4 months as they are most likely to be in Canada already and less likely to directly be affected by the restrictions due to Corona pandemic. This might be one of the reasons why CRS scores for these applicants have declined in every CEC draw after the introduction of border restrictions.
This latest draw has seen the ‘tie-breaking’ rule applied on 3rd April 2020 at sharp 12:56:32 UTC. It means that all the applicants with 431 CRS scores who have already submitted their profile before the time and date mentioned will get an ITA in this latest invitation round.
When we compare the CRS score 431 of this draw, it is 6 points lower than the previous CEC Express Entry Draw’s score 437. There has been a downward trend in this CRS score since the beginning of this corona crisis and it is constantly going down in every CEC draw in the last few months.
All eligible Express Entry applicants are provided scores under the CRS that is based on several factors like your age, education, work experience, language skills, etc. Other Express Entry programs tend to result in higher CRS scores but when there is a small pool of applicants to target, the lower cut-off can be expected.
Even though the IRCC has not yet provided any detail as to when the next FSW draw would take place, potential immigrants are encouraged to continue submitting their profiles to the pool of Express Entry. This is done to ensure people that they will always be in the system if any FSW draw is happened but also that their profile is visible to the provinces and territories of Canada when they held any Express Entry-linked nominations.
Applicants who attain a nomination from a Canadian territory or province will get an additional 600 points to add to their CRS score. It significantly increases their chances of being included in the subsequent Express Entry draw. As of June 2020, the country has already issued a total of 49,900 ITAs to the candidates. And this CEC draw was the 21st round of invitation under the Express Entry this year and the 154th overall.
Given the higher admission targets of Canada for its three prominent federal skilled immigration programs, it is projected that the IRCC will hold more larger and frequent draws in the coming days for potential immigrants.