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Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) registered yet another historic Express Entry Draw on July 22 with the minimum CRS score matching the second-lowest ever.
All the invited candidates were required to have prior work experience in Canada and must have registered in the federal pool with a minimum qualifying score of 357 and above.
This 198th draw soon followed the PNP-only nomination draws held a day before and were to candidates in the Express Entry pool with provincial nominations.
Overview of latest CEC-only Express Entry Draws
- Large Draw Size: Canada maintained the same draw size of 4,500 candidates like that in the previous CEC-only draw. However, previous CEC-only Express Entry draws in 2021 invited up to 6,000 candidates to apply for permanent residency in a single draw.
All the invited candidates have already demonstrated their work experience of at least one year inside Canada. International students, temporary skilled workers are known to be the largest beneficiary under the CEC program.
- Lowest 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.
July 22 draw selected candidates having a minimum CRS score of 357 which is known to be the second-lowest qualifying score in the history of Express Entry draws since 2015.
Previously, Express Entry qualifying CRS fell down to mere 75 points and opened up invitations for nearly 27332 CEC-only candidates to apply for Canada PR.
- 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 357 and only if they submitted their Express Entry profile before February 14, 2021, at 09:04:15 UTC.
| Shannon is in her mid-30s and holds a bachelor’s degree. She even has Canadian work experience of just over one year as a database analyst. Her overall work experience is about 6 years. She scored well in English proficiency. On entering the Express Entry pool, she obtained a score of 456 which is sufficiently higher to qualify for Canada PR in this draw. |
Express Entry in 2021
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 88 per cent of the target which is nearly 98,804 ITAs have been issued. With the next phase of border relaxations allowing fully vaccinated tourists to travel to Canada, IRCC may hold all-program Express Entry soon.
Take this free assessment online to determine your eligibility for permanent residency.
To improve your chances of qualifying for Canada PR through Express Entry, contact CanApprove today!
