Canada invited 27,332 onshore skilled immigrants to apply for permanent residency in the biggest Express Entry draw held in its history.
The draw was held on February 13 in which Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited skilled migration applicants under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
This round of the draw also had the lowest Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score requirement ever of only 75 points for the onshore candidates to be issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) by the IRCC.
Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino explained that holding such a big invitation draw and inviting more than 27,000 Canadian immigration candidates made this round the biggest ever in the history of Canada's Express Entry system.
Mr Mendicino also said that the IRCC would actively work to help more temporary residents make the transition to permanent residency status in Canada.
Such a massive scale of issuing ITAs to immigration candidates is a clear pointer to Canada's commitment to welcoming more than 1 million immigrants over the next three years.
A total of 5,000 ITAs were issued to skilled migration applicants to Canada in each of the last four rounds of the Express Entry draws – making this latest round almost six times bigger than its predecessors in terms of the number of ITAs given out.
Moreover, the previous lowest CRS score requirement was 199 points in the draw held on May 16, 2017, which is still a massive cutoff score compared to the 75-points threshold score in the latest round.
Canadian immigration candidates who submitted their applications before September 12, 2020 were eligible for this round of the draw with the CRS score requirement of only 75 points.
Express Entry is Canada's immigration application management system for the three skilled migration pathways to Canada under the Federal High Skilled category – the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
IRCC holds invitation draws about every two weeks, where immigration candidates to Canada are invited to apply for permanent residency in the country provided they meet the requirements of that round of the draw.
