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Yet another month passed with encouraging results for immigration candidates.
Closely adhering to its immigration levels plan for 2021-2023, the federal and provincial governments have issued nearly 27,000 invitations to apply for permanent residence in Canada were issued to eligible candidates in the month of February 2021.
This can be seen as a sign of relief and more new aspirants can be expected to immigrate to Canada very soon.
Watch Immigration Minister Merco Mendicino as he speaks on the current state of Canadian immigration during the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
ITAs For Canada PR Under Express Entry
Canada Express Entry is a long-drawn two-step process.
As it manages the application database for three federal immigration programs – the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), the Federal Skills Trades (FSTP), and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) – aspirants are first required to qualify for individual program requirements. Such eligible profiles are assessed and ranked on a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). Core human factors such as age, education, language skills, and work experience are used to calculate a CRS profile score.
The second step will involve the fortnightly nomination draws held by IRCC. The high-ranking candidates based on the CRS score get invitations to apply (ITA) for permanent residence (PR).
| Express Entry Draws – February 2021 | ||
| Nomination Draw Date | Qualifying CRS | ITAs issued |
| February 10 | PNP-specific – 720 points | 654 |
| February 13 | CEC-specific – 75 points | 22,332 |
Express Entry has already issued over 33,000 ITAs for Canada PR. Canada is targeting nearly 110,000 ITAs in 2021 following the last year as it issued the highest ever nominations in a single year.
Take this free assessment online to determine your eligibility to qualify for Express Entry.
Provincial Nominations To Qualify For Canada PR
Yet another month passed by and Canada immigration remained upbeat with provincial programs issuing nominations to eligible candidates to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
The unique arrangement between the federal and provincial/territorial governments in Canada allows the nomination of foreign candidates separately based on the unique labor demand of each province. Later on, these provincial nominations allow eligible candidates to apply for permanent residence.
Canadian provinces such as Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Islands, Saskatchewan had remained active by conducting nomination draws to invite eligible candidates to apply for a provincial nomination. Thereon, getting a permanent residence in Canada becomes easier.
Further, candidates with an active Express Entry and a provincial nomination are at an extreme advantage. By virtue of their nomination, they are awarded an additional 600 points towards their overall CRS score. This would effectively guarantee them an ITA for Canada PR in a subsequent Express Entry draw.
Here is an outlook on active Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) in the month of February 2021.
| Provincial Nominee Program Draws- February 2021 | ||
| Province | ITAs issues | Eligible Immigration Streams |
| Alberta – January 28 | 100 | Alberta Express Entry Stream invited eligible Express Entry candidates, who had scores of at least 360 on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). |
| February 10 | 200 | Candidates invited under the Alberta Express Entry stream needed a CRS score of at least 301. Further, they were also required to have work experience in any occupation that supports the province’s economic development and diversification priorities. |
| British Columbia – February 02 | 216 | Select candidates that include Entrepreneurs, Skilled Workers & International Graduates under the Express Entry BC (EEBC) and Skills Immigration streams.
The cut-off scores for Express Entry BC subcategories were:
The cut-off scores for the three Skills Immigration subcategories were:
|
| February 09 – Tech Pilot Draw | 74 | Skilled worker and international graduate subcategories needed a qualifying provincial nomination score of 80, in addition to qualifying for one of 29 in-demand tech occupations |
| February 16 | 494 | 459 invitations to apply for provincial nominations were issued to candidates in the Skilled Worker, International Graduate as well as Entry Level and Semi-Skilled sub-categories of SI and EEBC streams in the first draws.
The remaining 35 invitations went to candidates having work experience as retail and wholesale trade managers, restaurant and foodservice managers in another draw. |
| February 23 – Tech Pilot Draw | 87 | Candidates with a provincial score of 75 points under Express Entry British Columbia (EEBC) and Skills Immigration (SI) categories. |
| Saskatchewan – February 11 | 541 | International Skilled Worker category through two subcategories: Express Entry, and Occupations In-Demand. |
| February 25 | 299 | |
| Ontario – February 02 | 484 | Express Entry candidates whose Comprehensive Ranking System scores ranged between 466 and 467.
Further, candidates with at least one year of work experience and only in the 10 selected jobs qualified for this draw. |
| February 16 – Tech Pilot Draw | 1,186 | Invitations to Express Entry candidates were issued under the Human Capital Priorities stream and having CRS scores between 453 and 467.
Additionally, such candidates needed to have word experience in selected 6 tech occupations. |
| Manitoba – February 12 | 296 |
Further, a total of 20 LAAs went to Express Entry candidates. |
| February 26 | 207 |
Further, five LAAs went to Express Entry candidates. |
| Prince Edward Island – February 18 | 121 | Eligible candidates were invited under Express Entry, Labour Impact and
Business Impact categories. |
Get a free assessment of your immigration profile and find the best pathway to migrate to Canada.
Canada will target at least 200,000 ITAs for Canada PR every year through various economic-class pathways – Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Programs, various Business Immigration streams. Going by the present trend, we expect the country to surpass its target well before time.
In fact, new studies have found improved retention rates for immigrants in Atlantic Canada, which otherwise was not much popular among immigrants until now.
You may also be interested in reading about the new entrepreneur immigration pathway for international graduates to apply for Canada PR.
As an aspirant to migrate and settle in Canada, now is the best time for you to apply. Further, you are also being informed that any misrepresentation on your visa application can cause a ban of upto five years.
You can avoid it by consulting a genuine immigration consultant like CanApprove. Talk to our consultant today!
