Express Entry: Canada’s PNP draw record was broken once again
To present, IRCC has only encouraged PNP applicants to apply for permanent residency in Canada in the first two draws of the year
One thousand three hundred thirty-six prospective permanent residents were selected in a fresh Express Entry draw on January 19 in Canada.
Canadian Immigration and Refugee Agency (IRCC) exclusively welcomed candidates through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Because of this, the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cutoff score was 745. This score appears high because candidates for the PNP receive an automatic 600 points when they are nominated.
Since September, all Express Entry lotteries have been restricted to PNP applicants. Until September 14, Canadian Experience Class (CEC) entrants had the opportunity to apply.
IRCC has welcomed 1,428 PNP candidates via Express Entry so far this year. During the last 10 PNP-specific EE draws, the CRS cut-off has been in the 700-800 area. This year’s initial draw on January 5 had a CRS cutoff of 808, however, today’s cutoff of 745 was less than half that.
Nearly all of the Express Entry pool consists of FSWP and CEC applicants
About 194,000 people have applied for Express Entry as of January 4th. FSWP is available to about 80% of these applicants, but the CEC is only available to about 20% of them. Because of rounding, the actual number of people who are eligible for the PNP and the Federal Skilled Trades Program is slightly higher.
Since December 2020, the IRCC has not issued an invitation to FSWP applicants to apply for permanent residence. Candidates for FSWP were the most frequently invited before to the epidemic. FSWP applicants received about half of all 2019 Express Entry invitations. However, the applicant pool is already full due to the fact that FSWP candidates haven’t been able to apply in over a year.
Since September, the field of CEC candidates has grown significantly. Until six months ago, they accounted for less than 6% of the pool, but now they account for about 20%. At the time, IRCC was running massive CEC drawings, attracting up to 6,000 applicants at a time, in June.
According to an IRCC internal memo dated September, CEC draws were put on hold to help minimize application backlogs and return Express Entry processing time to six months. Candidate wait times for Express Entry will be as much as nine months in 2020.
The backlog of immigration applications rose by 21,000 requests between October and December, despite IRCC’s ability to process more than 45,000 requests each month at the end of the year. The Express Entry backlog decreased from 138,000 to 119,000 applications over that time period. When there were roughly 48,000 CEC application backlogs, they dropped to 25,000 by the end of the month. The backlog for the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) also decreased from 931 in October to 805 in December.
From 51,000 to 55,000, the backlog in the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) grew between October and December. In December, the backlog of Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applications rose by roughly 1,000 to 39,000.
Backlog of applications for Express Entry
What is “Express Entry?”
The Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program all use Express Entry as their application management system. This program is open only to those PNP candidates who applied through Express Entry.
The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) is used by Express Entry to rank the profiles of applicants. Successful applicants are issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) and are then eligible to apply for permanent resident status in the United States.
The next step is for an IRCC officer to assess and make a decision on their application. Following the biometrics, IRCC may arrange an interview or ask for additional papers.
IRCC issues a Confirmation of Permanent Residence if the application is approved (COPR). Once a permanent resident has been approved, they can begin the process of settling in. They can obtain pre-arrival assistance if they are outside Canada to assist them with the very first steps of their transition to Canada.
Who was invited?
You may have gotten an ITA in the new Express Entry draw as depicted in the following hypothetical scenario
In addition to having a bachelor’s degree and six years of experience as a social worker, Saylor is also a mother of two. Their overall score was 6.5 on the IELTS, but they got an impressive listening score of 7.5. Saylor has never been to Canada for employment or higher education. It was determined that their CRS score was 333. It was then suggested that Saylor file for a provincial nomination, and their proposal was accepted. Saylor’s
CRS score rose to 933 as a result of the provincial nomination, making him eligible for an ITA in the most recent Express Entry draw.