MUMBAI: After a long hiatus – a fall out of the pandemic, ‘all-program’ Express Entry draws have resumed, with the first such draw held on July 6. Express Entry is Canada’s flagship point-based mechanism for skilled individuals seeking to immigrate on a long-term basis.

In this ‘all-program’ draw, the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score was significantly high at 557. The Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the immigration agency of the Canadian government issued 1,500 invitations to apply – given to those who met or surpassed this minimum score.
A high score was expected owing to the long gap since the last all-program draw was held, but the spare number of invitations to apply came as a surprise to many. The previous draw was held on December 23, 2020 and the minimum CRS score was 468 with invitations to apply sent to 5,000 candidates.

Express Entry is a system used by the Canadian government to manage applications from skilled and qualified workers for permanent residence through three economic immigration programs. These are the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the Federal Skilled Trades Class.

Aspiring candidates complete an online profile, they are then entered into the Express Entry pool and are ranked relative to each other based on a score under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).

The CRS score is divided into two portions. The core score can reach a maximum of 600 points and is based on the candidate’s age, education, official language proficiency, work experience etc. Second, a maximum of 600 points are awarded to the candidates if they meet policy or other objectives such as: having a provincial nomination, a qualifying offer of arranged employment, Canadian educational credentials, French-language proficiency or a sibling in Canada.

Due to Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, IRCC has shifted its focus for Express Entry draws to the CEC and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) categories, as these candidates were typically already in Canada. However, in the latter half of 2021, even CEC eligible candidates were impacted as draws for this category came to a standstill impacting hundreds of thousands of international students, with post-study work experience, who were seeking to become permanent residents. IRCC had paused invitations to FSWP candidates since December 2020.

The number of candidates in the pool for the July 6 all-program draw were 2,26,849. Of which, 669 candidates had a score of above 601. There were 8,773 candidates with a score of between 500 to 600. Only 1,500 candidates were invited to apply, post which their applications would be vetted and they would be admitted as permanent residence. This draw saw the tie-breaking rule implemented on November 12, 2021 at 10.20 EST. If more than one candidate had the minimum CRS score, only those who submitted their profiles before this date and time will receive the invitations to apply.

Pre-pandemic the draws were held every two weeks, for now, the frequency of the draws is unclear. Also on cards is the proposed amendment to the Express Entry system where draws could be held for different categories – based on qualification, occupation, language skills or other norms.