Canada Continues To Conduct Express Entry Draw Despite Coronavirus Lockdown

The Government of Canada has recently released details of the new Express Entry Draw. Held on March 18, 2020, this 139th Express Entry draw is different from the previously held draws. It invited only 698 candidates to apply for the Canadian permanent residence. Usually, the EE draws tend to invite a large number of candidates. However, in this draw, only those candidates are issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) who have provincial nominations from different provinces of Canada. With this draw, the total number of ITAs issued through the Express Entry system has amounted to 19,368 for this year.

Minimum CRS score required

The minimum required Comprehensive Ranking System score came out to be 720. The CRS score requirement may seem to be high as compared to the previous draw’s score of 471. The score is higher this time because the invited candidates had 600 points extra due to provincial nominations. Every express entry draw features a tie break date and time. In this draw, the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada has applied a tie break date and time of March 19, 2020, at 02:04:06 UTC. Thus, candidates who have submitted their profiles before this date and time and who have CRS scores of 720 and above got the invitation to apply for permanent residence in Canada. The services of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada have been subsiding due to the measures taken in view of coronavirus. However, Canada is still working on its Immigration target for 2020 through the Express Entry system. The Express Entry allows new immigrants to apply for Canadian permanent residence through the following three economy class programs:

How does the Express Entry System work?

An eligible candidate has to create his/her profile and submit it in the Express Entry pool. Once a profile is submitted, the candidate is given a Comprehensive Ranking System score. The CRS score is the deciding factor for securing an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Permanent Residence. This score depends on human capital factors such as age, education qualification, language skills, and work experience. And, express entry candidates who have already received a provincial nomination get 600 points extra added to their overall CRS scores. The latest express entry draw has specifically issued invitations to candidates who had secured a provincial nomination. Thus, a provincial nomination guarantees an invitation from the IRCC to apply for the status of a permanent resident. This is why an interested candidate should always be on a lookout for provincial nomination draws and must not miss an opportunity to get additional 600 points.