How does Express Entry’s tie-break rule work?

Since the middle of March, it is noticed that tie-break rule is being applied in every Express Entry draw many a time. Many applicants do not have an idea of how it works.

To slow down the spread of the coronavirus Canada has announced some travel restrictions and since the time tie-break rule has been implemented for Express Entry draw. From a bunch of applications, the tie-break rule is used to sort applicants in a series. Such a rule will be applied to applicants with the same CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) scores to decide which application should be considered first.

The applicants are inline through the date & time their Express Entry profiles were added into the pool. This clearly shows that the tie-break rule works on a first come first serve basis or we can say it capture the range of profile that has been in the Express Entry pool for longer.

To clear the scenario here is an example from the latest Express Entry draw of June 25, 2020

In this latest draw total of 3,508 invitations were issued to the applications for permanent residence to applicants with CRS scores of at least 431. Here tie-break rule was used. This shows that applicants with a score of 431 and whose Express Entry profile were submitted before a decided time & date were invited. The date and time used for that draw were April 3, 2020, at 12:56:32 UTC. Usually, the tie-break rule uses to apply on an application that has the same CRS score as the draw’s cut-off.

The CRS score of an applicant has always been the primary factor in the selection process of candidates to be invited to apply for permanent residence.

Note: Changes made by applicants to their Express Entry profile does not change the timestamp of the profile submission.