Canada gets one step closer to meeting its 2021 target of welcoming 108,500 newcomers into the country through Express-Entry managed programs.
March 18 2021 was another big draw day for Canada as 5,000 Express Entry candidates received invitations to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
In order to be eligible for an invitation, candidates required a minimum score of 449 or more and needed to qualify for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
Eligibility requirements for the CEC, such as demonstrating one year of full-time skilled work and fluency in one of Canada’s official languages also needed to be met.
For this draw, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) used the tie-break rule. Candidates who met the score requirement were only considered if their Express Entry profile was submitted before February 19 2021 UTC.
Due to pandemic related travel restrictions and border closures, IRCC has been focused on issuing invitations to candidates who are already living and working in Canada. The processing of their applications will be far less complicated since there will be no need to travel.
By focusing on these candidates, the federal government will be much better placed to meet its immigration targets for 2021.
The last CEC-only draw held on February 13 2021 resulted in a total of 27,332 invitations to apply being issued.
Basically, every single CEC eligible candidate in the Express Entry pool received an invitation.
The last Express Entry draw held on March 17 2021 specifically targeted Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applicants.
So far this year, IRCC has issued a total of 43,850 ITAs to eligible candidates. This is more than one third of the targeted 108,500 newcomers who are expected to get permanent residency through Express-Entry managed programs.
It is likely that IRCC is planning on issuing all the invitations in the first half of the year so the invited candidates can get their permanent residency by the end of the year.