First quarter wound to a close with a final Express Entry draw for PNP candidates. Total of 284 invitation to apply with setting high score of 778.
On March 31, 2021 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held an Express Entry draw and issued 284 invitations to immigration candidates.
The minimum CRS score required was on the higher side at 778. But this was easily met since the selected candidates had previously received a nomination from a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
When an applicant successfully receives a provincial nomination, they are automatically awarded an additional 600 points on their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. This means, the original CRS score for the candidates in this draw was 178 or higher.
Express Entry profiles that were submitted prior to March 16, 2021 at 16:09:32 UTC were considered for the draw. Any entries after that were not eligible for the draw.
A cut-off time is set and published by IRCC even if there is no actual tie. This is one of the administrative requirements of the draw.
This past year has been anything but normal as everyone adjusts to new ways of doing things. Immigration is no different.
As a means of working around the challenges of the pandemic, IRCC has been trying different methods when holding draws in order to make up for the immigration targets of 2020 and meet the goal set for 2021.
CRS scores keep dropping and being adjusted, the department has been almost exclusively holding program-specific draws and IRCC even issued a historic number of invitations during a wholly unexpected draw held in February.
If the Express Entry program is of interest to you and you think you can qualify, go ahead and create your profile. If you’re worried about your score, there are always of improving it.
Canada is going through an extremely interesting period in respect to immigration. They are eager to welcome as many newcomers as they can and as we have seen, no score is too low.