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October 2 Express Entry

October 2 Express Entry draw sends 3,900 Invitations

Canada’s latest Express Entry draw saw it’s largest distribution of invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence since January this year. The most recent draw, held October 2, issued 3,900 invitations to Express Entry candidates. This draw required candidates to have a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 464 or higher.

The previous draw, held on September 18, had 3,600 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) sent to eligible candidates. In comparison, this draw had an increase of 300 invitations. The last draw of this size was on January 23, 2019, which also drew 3,900 invitations. As of this draw, Express Entry has issued a total of 67,300 ITAs this year. 

About Express Entry

Canada’s federal Express Entry system is run by the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It is one of the country’s most popular methods for recruiting skilled foreign workers. Although candidates do not require a job offer in Canada to be eligible, they do need to register a career profile in the Express Entry system.

The federal Express Entry holds about two draws a month, wherein it selects from the top-ranking profiles in the system. The system ranks candidates based on their CRS scores. Subsequently, it assesses the applicant on work history, educational background, English or French language skills, and more. If selected, candidates are sent an ITA, inviting them to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

The Express Entry pulls from three economic class categories of immigration: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class, and the Federal Skilled Worker Class.

As it stands now, the federal Express Entry stream could potentially break last year’s record of 89,800. In addition, the frequency of the draws has had an effect on the minimum score requirements. If there is a shorter wait between draws, the minimum score stays the same or decreases. When there is a long wait the scores tend to increase.

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Latest Express Entry draw on September 18 sends 3,600 invitations for permanent residence 

The Canadian government held another Express Entry draw this past Wednesday, September 18. As a result, 3,600 invitations were drawn and sent to candidates for Canadian permanent residence. 

A limited number of the highest-ranking candidates are drawn from pools managed by Express Entry. These pools consist of profiles from Canada’s skilled worker’s economic immigration classes: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class, and the Federal Skilled Worker Class. The draws are usually bi-weekly, taking place at least twice a month.

This week, Express Entry drew candidates with a minimum score of 462 on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The CRS awards points based on a candidate’s skilled work and education experience, age, and language proficiency in French or English. Incidentally, the minimum requirements for the last draw on September 4th was one point higher at 463.

Canda has sent a total of 63,400 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) this year, surpassing the numbers achieved this time last year of 58,600. The federal government’s goal for 2019 is to send 81,400 ITAs through the Federal High Skilled class. However, the end of 2018 saw a record-breaking total of 89,800 ITAs sent, and it is possible that more than that will be sent by the end of this year. 

This latest Express Entry draw also used the tie-break procedure. This meant that any candidates who had a score above 462 that created Express Entry profiles before the designated cut off time (August 29, 2019, at 07:57:13 UTC) received an ITA.

For anyone with CRS scores that are too low for Express Entry, there are numerous Provincial Nominiee Programs (PNPS) to help increase CRS scores. PNPs require much lower CRS scores to apply and they award 600 points to the selected applicants. Some provinces do not even consider CRS scores at all when looking at applicants.