Canada Held Another Program-specific Express Entry Draw, Invites 606 Candidates

The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted the 8th Express Entry Draw of 2020 on April 9. Similar to the draw held on March 18, this draw also invited only those candidates who had provincial nominations from the different provinces of Canada. A total of 606 Express Entry candidates were invited in this draw. And, with this draw, the total number of invitations issued by the express entry system this year amounts to 23,206. However, the minimum required Comprehensive Ranking System score went down by 22 points. Candidates needed a score of 698 only in order to secure an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence. The CRS score cut-off is higher than the cut-off of regularly held express entry draws. The reason is that only those candidates are invited in this draw who already had secured provincial nominations, thus, making them entitled to an additional 600 points in the CRS score.

Tie-Break Date and Time

Every express entry draw features a tie break date and time to invite a set number of candidates. In this draw, the IRCC has applied a tie break date and time of December 18, 2019, at 11:29:51 UTC. Thus, candidates, with a CRS score of 698 and higher, who have submitted their profiles before this date and time got the invitation to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

How does the Express Entry System work?

The Express Entry allows new immigrants to apply for Canadian permanent residence through the following three economy class programs:

Federal Skilled Trades
Federal Skilled Worker
Canadian Experience Class

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.

Canada still accepting applications

The regular draws that are being held by Canada demonstrate that it is still accepting and processing all the immigration applications. Therefore, prospective candidates should not hold back and keep applying to immigration programs.