Express Entry is the program that handles federal immigration applications for three types: the Federal Skilled Workers Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Group.
Canada held its 160th Express Entry draw, inviting immigration candidates to apply for permanent residence on August 19.
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The new round of Express Entry has issued 600 invitations to applicants with 771 scores in the CRS. Entrants invited required a provincial nomination from a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) to be selected. Recipients of PNP receive 600 CRS points automatically added to their base human capital score.
Today’s draw for Canadian permanent residence was the third round this month for issuing Invitations to Apply (ITAs).
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The ITAs are issued to the highest-ranking candidates in the Express Entry pool in regular invitation rounds.
Today’s draw was the 27th 2020 draw, bringing the total number of ITAs released this year to 62,450, a new record for that date. This means that, despite the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada continues to work towards its 2020 immigration targets.
Today’s minimum score of 771 was the highest CRS score cutoff of the year. It could be partially due to a large number of candidates being in the Express Entry pool.
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The time between drawings is an essential factor which can affect the cutoff score of the CRS. Shorter intervals between draws mean that fewer candidates have time to enter a profile in the Express Entry pool.
In today’s draw, IRCC employed its tie-break rule. The timestamp used was at 11:29:33 UTC, July 24, 2020. This means that in this invitation round, all candidates with a CRS score above 771, as well as those candidates with scores of 771 who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before the date and time selected, received an ITA.
The tie-break rule serves to rank candidates on CRS with the same score. A candidate’s CRS score remains the primary factor in selecting candidates to be called upon for permanent residence applications.
Under the Express Entry CRS, eligible candidates are awarded a score for each program that awards points for factors such as age, education, skilled work experience and professional English or French.
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While under the Express Entry system, a job offer is not required to qualify, the CRS awards additional points to candidates with one.
A set number of applicants with the highest marks will be invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada via regular pool draws, typically held every two weeks.
The Canadian Government has a six-month standard for processing permanent residence requests filed through the Express Entry system.
