Two Express Entry draws held on March 17th and March 19th saw 183 PNP candidates and 5000 CEC candidates invited to apply for permanent residence. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 682 for PNP(provincial nominees) and 449 for CEC (Canadian Experience Class). This PNP CRS score seems so high because all candidates had a provincial nomination, which grants them 600 points in the system. This means that candidates need only have 82 human capital points in addition to provincial nomination.
The previous CEC draw on 13th February had a cut off of only 75 and 27,332 candidates had been invited in a first ever historic draw. Usual Express Entry Draws till 2020 had seen group sizes of approximately 3500 being invited. 2021 has long surpassed those numbers
Candidates who met this minimum score for the PNP draw were only considered if they submitted their profile before March 4th, 2021 at 16:56:20 UTC, according to the tie-break rule. This is the second PNP-specific draw in a row, with the last one being held on March 8th, with 671 candidates invited to apply. The tie-break rule applied to the CEC draw was a minimum cut off of 449 and submission of profile till february 19th 2021.
This pattern suggests IRCC is focusing on helping provinces address their specific labour market, economic and population-related concerns during the pandemic in granting provincial nominee candidates directly to the communities in need.IRCC is also focusing on settling of the labour force present inside Canada. While restrictions continue to exist on travel, and offices are limping back into activity, it is better strategy to give priority to in-canada applicants
The number of international students coming to Canada is increasing every year. After completion of their study, students are given a post graduate work permit. This study and work in Canada provides students with valuable Canadian work experience which also segregates them into the category of Canadian Experience Class under the Express Entry system for Permanent Residence.
As seen by the PNP trends in 2021, many provinces are also shifting their focus to supporting candidates already working in the country through the process of becoming a permanent resident. With the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions not showing any signs of easing up soon, this is the smartest move for most provinces.
Canada’s immigration target is 401,000 by end of 2021.The Express Entry system will bring in 108,500 amongst these immigrants through its streams. A total of 43.840 Invitations to Apply have been sent in 2021 till now. In 2020, this number was only at 19,368 for the same period.
