Name of the draw: Express Entry
Programs involved: Provincial Nominee Program
No. of invitations: 940
CRS score required: 711
The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada has issued 940 invitations to Provincial Nominee Program candidates in the newest Express Entry Draw. Invited immigration candidates can now apply for Canadian Permanent Residency.
The requirement for Comprehensive Ranking System score was 711 points. Since the PNP candidates already had 600 additional points, they needed 111 points only in the CRS score.
IRCC publishes tie-break date and time in each express entry draw even when there is no actual tie. So, candidates who had the required cut-off score and who submitted their profiles before February 16, 2021, at 09:06:30 UTC were eligible to receive an ITA.
In the previous PNP-specific Express Entry Draw, IRCC issued 500 invitations to candidates who had a CRS score of at least 713 points. In this draw, the number of invitations issued has nearly doubled the CRS score requirement has also gone down by 2 points.
Travel restrictions affecting regular express entry draws
IRCC has conducted program-specific Express Entry Draws only since the start of 2021. To meet its immigration target for 2021, Canada is targeting immigration candidates who are most likely to be present in the country.
Travel restrictions in Canada have affected regular Express Entry Draws. IRCC does not include the major immigration programs – Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades in the current express entry draws. Canada has issued many invitations this year as compared to the number of invitations issued in 2020. IRCC invited 27,332 applicants in a single express entry draw held in February. And so far, Canada has circulated around 75,713 invitations for permanent residence.
