Canada has now issued over 78,350 ITAs to Express Entry candidates in 2020

Canada held a new Express Entry draw on September 30.

Federal Skilled Worker Program candidates were among today’s successful candidates for the third consecutive draw.

The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score in this latest invitation round was 471, a decrease of 1 point over the previous all-program draw, which was held on September 16.

The large number of Invitations to Apply (ITA) issued today is a strong indication that Canada remains committed to welcoming high levels of immigration in 2021 and beyond.

Canada’s Express Entry system manages the profiles of candidates for three of Canada’s main economic-class immigration programs — the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSW), Federal Skilled Trades Class (FST) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

In the Express Entry system, eligible candidates for the FSWC, FSTC, CEC programs, and some Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates are scored based on the Comprehensive Ranking System, or CRS.

The CRS considers multiple factors including age, work experience, education and proficiency in French or English. The highest-ranked candidates in the Express Entry pool receive an ITA, and at that point they can apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Canada has now sent out 78,350 ITAs so far in 2020, which is well above the 69,420 that were issued at the same time in 2017, another record-breaking year for Express Entry.

The latest draw saw the tie-breaking rule implemented on March 2, 2020 at 12:37:25 UTC. This means that all candidates with a CRS score of 471 and above who submitted their profile before this date and time received an ITA in this invitation round.

The latest invitation round was Canada’s 164th Express Entry draw held by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It was also the 31st draw of the year and the fifth all-program draw held since Canada went into lockdown on March 18.

While the vast majority of Express Entry draws usually involve candidates from all three programs,  since the start of the pandemic and the introduction of travel restrictions IRCC started making exceptions to this rule. Between March and the beginning of July,  IRCC was alternating between CEC and PNP program draws, but the number of ITAs from the two draws combined generally amounts to 3,900 invitations.

Who is invited?

The following are hypothetical examples of people who may have been invited in today’s invitation round.

Carola is 26 and single. She holds a bachelor’s degree in hydrological engineering and completed one year of work experience in her home country. She took the General Training IELTS exam and scored 6.5 in reading and writing, 7.0 speaking, and 8.0 in listening. She also knows French at an intermediate level. She recently completed one year of  full-time work as an engineering technician at a Canadian firm. Carola’s score of 472 would enable her to qualify for an ITA in the September 30 Express Entry draw.

Godfrey is 20 years old, and single. He knows English at a low intermediate level (CLB 5 in all areas). Godfrey has a one-year certificate in office skills from his home country. He has worked in Calgary for one year in a skilled occupation, and received a job offer as an administrative assistant at a design firm. He qualified for Express Entry under the Canadian Experience Class and received a provincial nomination through the Alberta Express Entry stream. Godfrey initially had a CRS of 314, but with the Alberta nomination gained an additional 600 points for an overall score of 914.