Provincial nomination candidates were eligible in newest Express Entry PNP-only draw held by IRCC.
Candidates who previously received a provincial nomination through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw were eligible for the Express Entry draw held on March 17 2021.
The 183 Express Entry immigration candidates who received an invitation to apply for permanent residency were required to meet a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 682.
The score requirement was quite low since all the candidates were automatically awarded 600 points on their original CRS score when they got their provincial nomination. This means, the applicants had an original CRS score of only 82!
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada used a tie-break rule for this draw. Eligible applicants with scores of 682 or higher, had to have submitted their Express Entry profiles by March 4 2021 at 16:56:20 UTC.
Any applications submitted after that time was not considered in this round of invitations.
IRCC held another PNP-specific draw less than ten days ago on March 8 2021 and issued 671 ITAs to PNP candidates.
Holding two PNP specific draws so close to each other is not the norm, however, the federal government is likely trying to help the provinces and territories recover from the economic challenges and labour shortages that resulted from the pandemic.
As such, they are focusing on issuing invitations to candidates who are already living and working in Canada in the hope that their permanent residency papers can be issued before the year is out.
Last month, IRCC held the largest Express Entry draw in its history and issued ITAs to every single person who was eligible in the Canada Experience Class (CEC). A total of 27,332 candidates received invitations during this draw!
Since the start of the new year, Canada has been holding steady PNP and Express Entry draws, demonstrating the federal government’s commitment to reaching an immigration target of 401,000 for 2021.
Anyone still on the fence about submitting an application, should strike now while the iron is so hot!