New Express Entry draw issues 3,500 invitation

New Express Entry draw issues 3,500 invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence

A total of 3,500 Express Entry candidates have been invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence in a new Express Entry draw held September 19. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score was 441.

The tie-break date and time used in this draw was September 6, 2018, at 10:28:45 UTC, meaning all candidates with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score above 441, as well as those candidates with scores of 441 who submitted their profile before this specified date and time, received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) in this invitation round.

While today’s draw size was smaller than the previous Express Entry draw on September 5, which issued a 2018 high of 3,900 ITAs, it is still larger than the number of ITAs that the Government of Canada was issuing in draws around this same point in 2017, when draw sizes dropped below 3,000.

The Express Entry system manages the profiles of candidates in Canada’s three main federal economic immigration categories — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class and the Canadian Experience Class.

Candidates are ranked according to their CRS score and the highest-ranked candidates are issued an ITA through regular invitation rounds.

Express Entry candidates can improve their ranking in a number of ways, including a provincial nomination that results in 600 additional CRS points.

Express Entry-linked Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) have been extremely active and innovative in 2018. One of the most active and innovative — Ontario’s Human Capital Priorities Stream — recently altered its CRS minimum requirement from 400 to a minimum score that will now be determined by the director of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

IRCC has now issued a total of 62,100 ITAs over 19 draws in 2018, which puts it slightly ahead of the 60,742 ITAs that were issued over the first 19 draws of 2017.

However, IRCC had issued 66,549 ITAs in 2017 by this same point in September, which leaves IRCC 4,449 ITAs behind last year’s pace.