Canada invited a total of 589 candidates to this Express Entry draw, with a minimum score requirement of 692 for the Detailed Ranking System (CRS). Express Entry candidates invited in the April 29 draw were required to have a provincial nomination.
With another 600 points from getting a provincial nomination, that means that the basic requirement for human capital points was only 92. This is the lowest CRS prerequisite so far this year for a Provincial Candidate System (PNP)- unique Express Entry draw. It is six points under the April 9 draw, which welcomed at least 698 provincial nominees with a CRS.
In the first quarter of 2020, there were more Express Entry applicants invited to apply for permanent residency than in the first quarters of the two preceding years.
Although the Canadian government has deviated from regularly scheduled all-program draws after the implementation of special measures to slow the spread of coronavirus Canada, invitations have been given consistently.
Eligible applicants enter the Express Entry pool and are rated based on a CRS score that takes into account factors such as age, employment, professional job experience and English or French proficiency.
A select number of the highest-ranking applicants are given an invitation through regular draws from the Express Entry pool to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Today’s draw is the 12th of 2020, and it brings to 30,989 the total number of ITAs issued this year.
In this draw, IRCC applied its tie-break rule and the date and time used were March 11, 2020 at 13:46:21. This means that in this round of invitation all candidates with a CRS score above 692, as well as those candidates with scores of 629 who submitted their profile before the specified date and time, earned an ITA.

Express Entry candidates with scores below the CRS cut-off today have a variety of possible options to raise their total points, the most important of which is a provincial nomination. Nine Canadian provinces and two territories have provincial nominee programs that allow them to nominate a set number of permanent residency candidates for economic immigration each year.
Each participating province and territory has at least one source of immigration that is related to the Express Entry system and allows it to appoint permanent residence candidates in that province or territory.
Express Entry applicants nominated by a province or territory receive an additional 600 points toward their CRS score, bringing them to the front of the queue for an invitation to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
The Government of Canada is expecting entry of 341,000 immigrants in 2020, 351,000 in 2021 and another 361,000 in 2022 under its 2020-2022 Immigration Rates Program. PNP admissions are projected to rise by 20 per cent by 2022.
The Express Entry system is the primary source of qualified foreign workers in Canada. It manages candidate profiles for the three Federal High Skilled Economic Class Immigration programs — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class, and the Canadian Experience Class — of Canada.