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Canada held a new Express Entry nomination draw which resulted in issuing exclusive permanent residency invitations to candidates with prior provincial nominations.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) seemingly continued with the trend of holding alternate CEC-only & PNP-only nomination draws. The previous nomination draws were dedicated to inviting 6,000 candidates who already had work experience in Canada.
The latest Express Entry round of invitations is the 193rd draws since its introduction in 2015. A brief summary of the nomination draw is as below:
- Biggest Draw Size: Canada issues 1,002 invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residency (PR) exclusively to those candidates in the federal pool who had already received provincial nominations. The previous PNP-only draw held two weeks ago issued 940 ITAs for Canada PR.
A provincial nomination is a certificate to immigrate to a certain Canadian province to fulfil its labour shortage demand. It is mainly issued by the concerned provincial government to fast-track one’s application to permanent residency in Canada which remains under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.
All the invited candidates have already demonstrated their connection to a province or territory and experience to succeed in the labour market by securing a provincial nomination. Further, they may qualify to receive invitations for permanent residency through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, or Canadian Experience Class.
- Higher Qualifying Score: Any prospective candidates that seek to register their profile for consideration under the Express Entry system shall be assessed and ranked based on a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).
Such profiles are evaluated on a total of 1200 points and considers human capital factors like age, education, work experience outside Canada, language proficiency in English/French, spouse adaptability, Canadian study experience, etc. Those who receive provincial nominations through ‘enhanced’ PNP streams will get an additional 600 points towards their CRS score.
The 193rd Express Entry draw required candidates to have a relatively higher qualifying CRS score of 742 points than the previous 711. However, when compared to qualifying scores in CEC-only draws, candidates would only be required to score 142 points in actual terms. Additional 600 points get automatically added to their overall CRS score upon receiving a successful provincial nomination.
- Tie-Break Rule: IRCC applies a tie-break rule to avoid disputes in the rankings in the case where two or more candidates are awarded the same CRS score. This draw invited candidates who had a minimum score of 742 and only if they submitted their Express Entry profile before February 18, 2021, at 04:04:56 UTC.
| Anna & Ryan are a married couple in their mid-30s. Each holds a bachelor’s degree and hold a good IELTS score. They never studied or worked in Canada previously and entered the Express Entry pool as a married couple last year in April 2020. Based on their credentials, Anna, the principal applicant got a provincial nomination from Ontario’s Human Capital Priorities Stream. With this provincial nomination, their CRS score jumped up to 1021 which is sufficient to qualify in this PNP-only Express Entry draw for Canada PR. Learn more about Express Entry for Married Couples or Common-law Partners here. |
Domestic Candidates Prefered
IRCC has regularly held Express Entry draws in 2021. Only program-specific draws linked to either Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) or Canada Experience Class (CEC) have been held so far, thereby ignoring the candidates who qualified under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). This may be largely due to the COVID-related travel restrictions internationally.
FSWP candidates are mostly foreign skilled workers who do not have work experience inside Canada and do not hold a job offer in Canada. However, they may qualify for permanent residency based on their age, language proficiency, education, and relevant work experience abroad.
Canada is set to welcome 108,500 new immigrants through Express Entry-managed programs in 2021 alone. So far, about 80 per cent of the target has been achieved, i.e., 82,715 Express Entry candidates have been already invited to apply for permanent residency.
With business groups calling upon the government to reopen the border soon, it will not be a surprise if Canada issues a record number of total invitations for PR by the end of this year. Click here to get a quick review of nomination draws in the months of January, February, March, April 2021 and May 2021.
Take this free assessment online to determine your eligibility for permanent residency.
For more latest updates on Canadian immigration, contact CanApprove.
