The Canadian government inched closer to its 2021 immigration targets by holding a surprise Express Entry draw and issuing tens of thousands of invitations to eligible candidates.
Something happened in Canadian immigration history on February 13 2021 that has never ever happened before.
The Canadian federal government held a surprise Express Entry draw on Saturday where Immigration, Refugee, Citizenship and Canada (IRCC) issued 27,332 invitations to apply (ITAs) to immigration candidates in the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program.
27,332!
If that incredibly high number wasn’t historic enough, the required Comprehensive Ranking System Score (CRS) of 75 was at its lowest ever!
The number of invitations sent during this one draw is almost six times higher than the total number of ITAs issued during the four biggest Express Entry draws held between November 18 and December 23 2020 where 5,000 ITAs were issued per draw.
A tie-break rule was used for candidates who met the minimum score requirement of 75. In order to qualify, Express Entry profiles had to be submitted online before September 12, 2020 at 15:31 UTC.
Why is this so relevant?
Over the last year, Minister Mendicino has stated numerous times that immigration is a priority for Canada. Those statements were reinforced when he unveiled the 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plans and when he received his mandate letter from Trudeau earlier this year.
While the pandemic made the realization of those targets and goals a little more challenging but Canada still found a way to welcome as many newcomers as they could.
What Saturday’s draw does, is demonstrate just how committed Canada is to reaching its target goal of 401,000 new immigrants for 2021. The government is taking action on what they’re saying. It appears that IRCC is focusing on issuing a large portion of the invitations early in the new year so newcomers can start coming in before the end of 2021.
Out of the 401,000 intended newcomers, 108,500 of them will be invited through Express Entry managed programs.
The target will be increased to 110,500 for 2022 and 113,750 for 2023.
The Federal High Skilled programs has been given the largest allocations over the next three years. Given that the program is managed by the Express Entry system, we can safely conclude the Express Entry pool will play a starring role in Canadian immigration for the time being.
What next?
At CICWeekly, we have been encouraging our readers to submit their profiles and applications, even if they don’t feel confidently about their CRS scores or feel unsure about how they might be ranked because you can never predict what will happen with the scoring and what IRCC will decide.
What Saturday’s draw has shown is that if you have any desires to immigrate to Canada, the time to act is now! And remember, you can always improve your score with some help! If you have questions about how to proceed, speak to an RCIC consultant to get started today so you don’t miss out on the next surprise IRCC throws our way!