Canada invited 462 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence on July 21.

All invited candidates had previously received a nomination from a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). This is why the score cut-off was relatively high at 734. Provincial nominees in the Express Entry pool automatically get 600 points added to their score. Without the nomination, the lowest-scoring candidate would have had 134 points.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) also published a cutoff time for the tie-break rule. This is an administrative requirement, and it does not mean there was any actual tie. Candidates who had the minimum score were only invited if they submitted their Express Entry profile before April 11, 2021 at 10:56:32 UTC.

In the previous PNP draw, Canada invited 627 candidates. The score requirement was 760. The new draw rendered fewer invitations and also a lower score cutoff.

PNP and CEC draws

Throughout the pandemic, IRCC has been holding only PNP- and Canadian Experience Class (CEC)-specific draws. This is because these candidates are more likely to already be living in Canada, and less likely to be disrupted by public health measures like travel restrictions.

Coronavirus-related measures in Canada are starting to roll back. Canada’s border is reopening to non-essential travel to fully vaccinated U.S. travellers in August. Then in September, the border will open to fully vaccinated people from all other countries. However, direct flights to India are still suspended until August 21.

Canada set a target to welcome 401,000 new immigrants to Canada this year, according to its immigration levels plan. About a quarter of these are allotted to come through the Express Entry system.

This year, Canada has invited almost twice as many Express Entry candidates compared to the same time last year. So far, Canada has invited 94,304 Express Entry candidates to apply. The large number comes from the historic February 13 draw where IRCC invited every CEC-eligible candidate in the pool, a total of 27,332 people. About 87 per cent of those invited that day applied for permanent residence before the 90-day deadline, according to an IRCC email.

PNP-only and CEC-only draws have very different score requirements. This is because PNP candidates automatically get 600 points added to their score. CEC candidates are not competing for invitations from other programs. As a result, IRCC takes more off the top allowing for cutoff scores to dip into the lower levels.

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is a points-based system that manages immigration applications for the three Federal High Skilled programs, which include the: Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Worker Program, and Federal Skilled Trades Program. Some PNPs also use Express Entry to invite candidates to apply for a provincial nomination.

If you are eligible for an Express Entry-managed program, you will get a score based on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS awards points based on skilled work experience, education, age, official language skills, and other factors.

Who was invited?

Here is a hypothetical example of someone who may have been invited in the new Express Entry draw.

Ahmed and Eunice are married and are ages 34 and 31, respectively. They both bachelor’s degrees, and wrote the IELTS, with matching scores of 8 in listening and 7 in reading, speaking and writing. Eunice has been working as a computer programmer for the past three years while Ahmed has been working in finance for four years. Neither Ahmed nor Eunice has ever worked or studied in Canada. They entered the Express Entry pool with Eunice as the principal applicant and a CRS score of 421. Eunice then received a notification of interest from Ontario and was able to apply for a provincial nomination. Eunice’s CRS score increased to 1021 and she received an Invitation to Apply for permanent residence during the new Express Entry draw.