In yet another surprise Express Entry draw, IRCC issues second largest number of invitations to CEC candidates.
On April 14, 2021 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held a draw for candidates who had previously successfully received a nomination through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw.
A total of 266 Express Entry candidates were invited through the draw.
To qualify, candidates were required to have a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 753, it was 25 points less than the last PNP-only draw held by IRCC on March 31, 2021.
The score requirement is higher when compared to other draws such as the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) only draw or all-program draw.
However, the score was not hard to meet since all the candidates in the draw had received an additional 600 points on their CRS score upon receipt of their provincial nomination. This means the lowest scoring candidate’s original score was in fact 153.
In order to be eligible, candidates had to have submitted their Express Entry profile by March 1, 2021 at 15:22:18 UTC. Anyone who submitted their profiles after this cut-off time was not considered.
Express Entry draws in 2021
Canada has been working overtime to issue as many invitations as they can in order to meet their immigration targets for 2021.
So far, IRCC has issued 49,390 invitations to Express Entry candidates. This is almost double the number of invitations issued at the same last year.
Although IRCC has been holding numerous draws since the beginning of the new year, the majority of the invitations were issued during the February 13, 2021 historic draw when every single eligible candidate (27,3332 applicants) in the CEC pool were invited to apply for their permanent residency.
Given the challenges presented by the pandemic, it appears that the federal government is shifting its focus and prioritizing candidates who are currently living and working in Canada. For example, 95% of the CEC candidates who received invitations are already living in Canada.
By prioritizing these candidates, IRCC is minimizing any additional delays caused by travel restrictions or border closures and giving stability to candidates who are already partially settled in Canada.
If all the applications of the invited candidates are received and processed in a timely manner, each candidate will become a permanent resident of Canada before the end of the year.
This is an opportune moment for anyone considering submitting an application for Canadian immigration. Eager for immigrants, the federal government is making it easier than ever to become a permanent resident.