Express Entry invites 4200 candidates in latest draw

IRCC (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada) held a draw on September 30 inviting 4200 candidates for Canadian PR through Express Entry. This was another all program draw that invited candidates from Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Federal Skilled Trades (FST) programs, including Provincial Nominees. The cutoff Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) score was 471 points.

The tie-breaking rule was applied for March 2, 2020, at 12:47:08 UTC, which means all the applications that were submitted before the given time with a score above 471 will be issued an ITA.

After Canada implemented the travel restrictions in March 2020, IRCC continued to hold the draws for Express Entry and PNPs. But the draws consist of the candidates mostly from the Provincial Nominee Program and Canadian Experience Class where most of the candidates were within Canada only. Hence, the selected applicants would not have to travel from outside the Canadian borders and they can still submit their application and attain PR.

Because of the pandemic and such fashion of draws, other applicants had a reason to worry about their application as well as their chances to receive ITA in order to move forward with their plans and goals. There was uncertainty about when IRCC will hold an all program draw or start inviting candidates across the borders. In addition, the travel exemptions were given but the restrictions were extended for a month again and again. As per the latest update, the travel restrictions are extended until October 31. (Read here for details).

But the good news comes with this draw when Canada held another all program draw.

It is consecutive third all program draw after COIVD-19 lockdown and travel restrictions were exempted one by one. While the majority of Express Entry draws in recent times usually involved the candidates from the CEC and PNP programs inviting 3900 candidates from both programs combined, IRCC has made an exception by holding all program draw again. A large number of ITAs issued in this draw is good news for the applicants and a strong indication that Canada will hold a draw inviting more candidates as per they planned under the Express Entry program in the upcoming year.

Canada has issued 78,350 ITAs so far in 2020, which is way more than the 69,420 that were issued at the same time in 2017, another record-breaking year for Express Entry.