Canada Holds its Largest Ever Express Entry Draw

The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held a record-breaking 167th Express Entry draws on November 18, also the first since the announcement of the Immigration Levels Plan for 2021-2023. 

Express Entry draws are held every two weeks inviting eligible foreign skilled workers. Such candidates may or may not have a job offer and need not have worked in Canada before to apply for permanent residence. 

Following an update in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) evaluation: French-speaking candidates are now eligible for additional CRS points over their English-only speaking counterparts. 

Quick Highlights on 167th Express Entry Draw

#1 Record-breaking Draw Size: Never in the history of Express Entry draws had IRCC issued as many as 5,000 invitations to apply (ITAs) for Canada PR in a single draw. It meant that the draw size is 500 ITAs more than the previous Express Entry draws at 4,500 invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residence. 

This is the fourth instance in 2020 where IRCC issued over 4,500 ITAs in a single draw. 

CanApprove anticipates increased draw size in near future Express Entry draws based on the following factors: 

• The exuberant target of welcoming over 200,000 new immigrants every year until 2023 through economic-class programs
• Those who receive invitations now will be able to enter Canada only in 2021. It takes upto six months or beyond to process the application 
• The reduced refugees intake temporarily is replaced with more number of immigrants intakes under the economic class immigration
• With Provincial Nominee Programs falling short of its demand, Express Entry nominations may remain high. 

Every registered profile in the Express Entry pool is evaluated using a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). This ranking system factors in the core human capital like age, work experience, education, and skills in English or French. 

The profiles are scored upon a maximum of 1200 points. 

November 18 draw saw a decrease in qualifying CRS to 472 from the previous high at 478 for selection. 

#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 October 27 at 06:18:11 UTC. 

The previous draw had a timestamp before October 26, 2020 at 22:44:19 UTC. It meant candidates who failed to get invitations earlier had a good chance of getting invited in the November 18 draw. 

This meant that all candidates with a CRS score above 478 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.  

Case Study: Who Gets Nominated? 

Consider these hypothetical case study examples for a better understanding of how an Express Entry invitation rounds function. 

You may contact our consultants for further details. 

Factoring in the above human capital:

• Case1: The subject got a CRS score of 333 and qualified for the Saskatchewan provincial program. On receiving a provincial nomination, the subject received an additional 600 points towards their overall CRS. Now, the subject can qualify in the November 18 Express Entry draw.

• Case2: With a CRS of 478, the subject was readily eligible to qualify for November 18 draw.  

Express Entry Draws in 2020

Canada has now issued a total of 92, 350 ITAs for permanent residence so far in 2020. It is further expected to cross the 100,000 ITA landmark, exceeding the 2020 annual allocation target of 91,800 ITAs. 

Despite the negative consequence of pandemic on immigration levels, Express Entry has created record-breaking nominations for permanent residence. 

Having offered our immigration consultancy services for over two decades now, CanApprove senses a big pull for skilled immigrants- professionals, entrepreneurs/investors, students, in the coming years to migrate to Canada.  

Here is a list of all Express Entry draws held in 2020.

All the missing Express Entry draws were program-specific draws conducted to invite particular candidates under Canadian Experience Class or Provincial Nominee Program or Federal Skilled Trades Program.  

You can now fix an appointment with one of our consultants to further discuss the prospects of your Canadian immigration.