The Government of Canada has issued 3,350 invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence to candidates in the Express Entry system in a draw held February 20.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has now issued a total of 14,500 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in 2019, which remains the biggest start to a year since the Express Entry system’s introduction in 2015.
The 14,500 ITAs are an increase of 70 per cent over the number issued at this same juncture in 2018 — a year that saw IRCC set the current Express Entry ITA record of 89,800.
The Express Entry system manages the pool of candidates for Canada’s three Federal High Skilled economic immigration programs — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class — and is designed to expedite the immigration process for those candidates invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence.
The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score in today’s draw was 457, an increase of 19 points from the previous draw on January 30.
The fact the minimum CRS score increased in the February 20 draw can be largely attributed to the three weeks that elapsed since the previous draw on January 30.
More time between draws allows more time for the Express Entry pool to replenish with higher-scoring candidates, which can have the effect of increasing the cut-off score.
By contrast, the January 30 draw was held just one week after the previous invitation round on January 23, meaning fewer candidates had a chance to submit a profile and resulting in a lower CRS minimum score of 438.
