Results of the long-awaited Express Entry selection
Why did the passing score become so high?
On 17 March, Canada issued 183 invitations to candidates registered in the Express Entry system. This time, luck again smiled on the participants of provincial programs.
In the past selection, the minimum passing score on the Complex Ranking System was 682. The score requirement may seem high, but this is because all invited participants had previously received provincial nominations.
Express Entry candidates who receive a provincial nomination are automatically awarded 600 points on top of their initial human capital score for age, education, language skills and other factors.
Express Entry is Canada's system for selecting qualified immigrants through three federal economic class programs:
- highly skilled professionals (Federal Skilled Workers Program);
- working professionals (Federal Skilled Trades Program);
- specialists with experience in Canada (Canadian Experience Class).
This selection was the second draw among provincial program applicants. On March 8, Canada invited 671 participants to apply for permanent residency.
"This is a rare case where the IRCC has two consecutive draws for provincial program candidates," said attorney David Cohen, senior partner at Campbell Cohen. It shows that the IRCC is committed to helping provinces and territories meet labour market needs as much as possible during a pandemic."
This year, Canada issued 38,840 invitations to apply. This is about three times the number of invitations issued by the IRCC at the same time last year. Because of the small number of new immigrants admitted in 2020, Canada has set an ambitious goal of admitting 401,000 Newcomers in 2021.
To maximize your chances of receiving an invitation to apply for an Express Entry selection, we recommend keeping an eye on history of passing scores and number of invitations.
