Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held its largest ever nomination draw in the month of October since the inception of Express Entry system in 2015. It has now issued over 82,850 invitations to apply (ITAs) for a permanent residence in Canada in the year 2020 alone.
Express Entry draw is not a visa type but a database management system to select eligible candidates for three federal programs – Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).
A select group of candidates with prior provincial nominations may also find themselves eligible to apply for permanent residence alongside the nominated candidates.
The first nomination draw of the month held October 14 invited foreign skilled workers with/without a job offer or even a work experience in Canada.
Ever since the lockdown was imposed from March 18, IRCC had held specific Express Entry draws targeting candidates either with provincial nominations or canadian work experience. The 165th Express Entry draw is also noteworthy because it considered candidates belonging to the FSWP category, i.e. candidates who had not previously lived or worked in Canada to apply for permanent residence.
Quick Highlights on 165th Express Entry Draw
#1 Largest ever Draw Size: IRCC issued a total of 4,500 invitations to apply (ITAs) for Canadian permanent residence in its latest Express Entry draw. This is a humble increase of 300 ITAs over previous Express Entry draws in 2020.
IRCC last recorded such a draw size in the month of February 2020.
#2 Qualifying CRS remains the same: Any profile to be registered in the Express Entry pool is assessed and ranked on a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) that considers core human capital factors like age, work experience, education and skills in English or French.
Following the declining trend in the CRS cut-off score, the latest draw required candidates to have their CRS scores equal to or above 471 for selection. The minimum required CRS score for qualification remains the same as from the previously held all-program draw.
#3 Tie-break rule: Often there arises a situation where candidates end up having the same CRS score. Here is where IRCC uses its tie-break rule to rank a particular candidate higher. The timestamp used in the latest draw was September 1, 2020, at 12:11:23 UTC.
This meant that all candidates with a CRS score above 471 before the selected date and time were eligible to receive an ITA in this invitation round.
Fill-in this free online assessment to know more about your eligibility for various other immigration programs.
Express Entry Draws in 2020
This is just the 30th draw of 2020 and the overall tally of ITAs issued has almost crossed the 80k feet. The annual allocation target for 2020 is 91,800. The exact count of issued ITAs till date is 82,850. It is the highest ever issued ITAs for Canada PR to welcome foreign skilled workers with/without job offers or Canadian work experience.
Here is a list of all Express Entry draws held in 2020.
Draw Number | Date | Number of ITAs issues | Minimum CRS |
165 | October 14 | 4500 | 471 |
164 | September 30 | 4200 | 471 |
163 | September 16 | 4200 | 472 |
162 | September 2 | 4200 | 475 |
161 | August 20 | 3300 | 454 (CEC-specific) |
160 | August 19 | 600 | 771 (PNP-specific) |
159 | August 6 | 250 | 415 (FSTP- specific) |
158 | August 5 | 3900 | 476 |
157 | July 24 | 3343 | 445 (CEC-specific) |
156 | July 22 | 557 | 687 (PNP-specific) |
155 | July 8 | 3900 | 478 |
154 | June 25 | 3508 | 431 (CEC-specific) |
153 | June 24 | 392 | 696 (PNP-specific) |
152 | June 11 | 3551 | 437 (CEC-specific) |
151 | June 10 | 341 | 743 (PNP-specific) |
150 | May 28 | 3515 | 440 (CEC-specific) |
149 | May 27 | 385 | 757 (PNP-specific) |
148 | May 15 | 3371 | 447 (CEC-specific) |
147 | May 13 | 529 | 718 (PNP-specific) |
146 | May 1 | 3311 | 452 (CEC-specific) |
145 | April 29 | 589 | 692 (PNP-specific) |
144 | April 16 | 3782 | 455 (CEC-specific) |
143 | April 15 | 118 | 808 (PNP-specific) |
142 | April 9 | 3294 | 464 (CEC-specific) |
141 | April 9 | 606 | 698 (PNP-specific) |
140 | March 23 | 3232 | 467 (CEC-specific) |
139 | March 18 | 668 | 720 (PNP-specific) |
138 | March 4 | 3900 | 471 |
137 | February 19 | 4500 | 470 |
136 | February 5 | 3500 | 472 |
135 | January 22 | 3400 | 471 |
134 | January 8 | 3400 | 473 |
The regular conduct of Express Entry draws and Provincial Nominee draws during the ongoing travel restrictions in Canada shows a high level of commitment towards welcoming immigrants. Having offered our immigration consultancy services for over two decades now, CanApprove sees a big pull for skilled immigrants- professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, students to migrate to Canada.
You can now fix an appointment with one of our consultants to further discuss the prospects of your Canadian immigration.