On 20th August 2019, Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) – Canada’s federal immigration authority
– announced the results of the latest round of invitations. 3,600 candidates
under the Federal Skilled Trades Program of the Express Entry System, who
scored 457 or more points in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), were
invited to apply for permanent residence.
In case one or more candidates have the
same point score, a tie-breaking rule is applied, which takes into account the
date and time at which the candidate submitted their profile in the Express
Entry pool. In this round, only profiles submitted on or before 24th
March 2019 at 15:32:42 UTC were selected. This was an unusual draw, since it
was conducted on a Tuesday – merely eight days after the previous round of
invitations. Typically, there is a gap of 15 days between two rounds.
IRCC conducts regular draws to invite
eligible candidates to apply for permanent residence under the three Canada Express Entry streams – the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled
Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class.
The Express Entry System is the most
streamlined route for skilled workers to become permanent residents of Canada. It
is a merit-based selection system that identifies foreign workers who can
contribute to Canada’s economy by fulfilling skills shortages in the workforce
that cannot be filled by the local population.
Aspirants are first required to submit an
online Expression of Interest (EOI) containing information regarding their
credentials and qualifications. Subsequently, the CRS evaluates this
information based on several selection criteria, and allocates point scores and
corresponding ranks which indicate the Canada immigration eligibility of candidates
in the EOI pool.
Highest-ranking candidates are invited to
apply for permanent residence. The point score of the lowest-ranking candidate
to be invited is known as the CRS cut-off. Only those who can meet or exceed the
CRS cut-off receive invitations to apply.
The CRS cut-off for the previous Express
Entry draw (conducted on 12th August 2019) was 466 points – nine
points higher than the current cut-off. Thus, the latest round invited people
with a lower point score. The shorter gap between the preceding and latest draw
may not have allowed the Express Entry System to be replenished with new
high-scoring profiles, which could be one cause for the reduced CRS cut-off.
Since 10th July 2019, each
successive draw has invited 3,600 candidates at a time. So far in 2019, the
IRCC has invited 56,200 candidates with varied Comprehensive Ranking System
scores to apply for permanent residence. This trend indicates that in 2019, the
IRCC could possibly exceed its 2018 record-high of 89,800 invitations extended
in a single year.
