The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held its 170th Express Entry draws on December 23.
The actual tally of ITAs issued in 2020 now stands at 107,350.
Express Entry draws allows for the flexibility of inviting any foreign skilled workers with/without a job offer or without any Canadian work experience to apply for permanent residence.
Quick Highlights on 170th Express Entry Draw
1. Draw Size Remains At 5,000 ITAs: As in the previous Express Entry draws, IRCC issued 5,000 invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residence in Canada.
Candidates who qualified for three immigration programs – the Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) – were eligible to be nominated in the December 9th draw.
We are anticipating the draw sizes to remain more or less the same in 2021 since:
- The reduced refugees intake temporarily is replaced with more number of immigrants intakes under the economic class immigration
- Over 60% of the annual target in the new Immigration Levels Plan for 2021-2023 is aimed through economic-class programs.
2. Decrease in Minimum CRS: Express Entry is not a Visa type but a profiles management system for federal immigration programs and specific provincial nominee programs.
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.
December 23 Express Entry draw maintained the same level of qualifying CRS as 468 from the previous draw.
A recent update in CRS evaluation allows Canada to favor more bi-lingual candidates (proficiency in English and French) to qualify for Canada PR through Express Entry.
3. Tie-break rule: More than one candidate may end up with 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 June 4, 2020, at 13:39:44 UTC in order to receive an invitation.
This meant that all candidates with a CRS score above 468 before the selected date and time were eligible to receive an ITA in this invitation round.
We have noticed that IRCC is clearing the Express Entry pool by inviting candidates who failed to get invitations earlier and now had a good chance of getting invited.
Fill-in this free online assessment to know more about your eligibility for various other immigration programs.
Express Entry Draws in 2020
Canada has now issued a total of 107,350 ITAs for permanent residence so far in 2020 as against its allocated target of 91,800 ITAs.
Despite the negative consequence of pandemic on immigration levels, WES Canada noted a rise in interest for Canadian immigration. Economic-class programs like Express Entry have served it well with record-breaking nominations for a permanent residence this year.
Table1: ITAs for Canada PR issued between January 2020 – December 2020
CEC- Canadian Experience Class; PNP- Provincial Nominee Program; FSTP- Federal Skills Trades Program
After initial lockdowns in March, IRCC innovated with the regular fortnightly Express Entry to prioritize foreign skilled workers already present in the country. Thereby, program-specific draws were conducted to invite candidates under the Canadian Experience Class or Provincial Nominee Program, or Federal Skilled Trades Program to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
However, since June 2020, when the Federal Skilled Worker Program assumed its significance, any foreign skilled worker who did not work in Canada before was eligible for Canada PR.
CanApprove senses a big pull for skilled immigrants- professionals, entrepreneurs/investors, students as well as their families to migrate to Canada in the coming years. We are not just any immigration consultant but a registered agent with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).
Book an appointment with us to discuss the prospects of your Canadian immigration in 2021.