On May 25, Canada held a new draw of invitations – inviting 589 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residency. 

The minimum score required to be invited to this draw was 741. Only candidates with a provincial nomination were invited by the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), resulting in a higher cut-off score. Express Entry candidates with a nomination under a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) are automatically awarded 600 CRS points added to their base score. 

This draw was marginally larger and had a lower CRS cut-off than the last – where the IRCC invited 545 PNP candidates with scores of at least 753. 

Express Entry draws for FSWP and CEC candidates to resume in July

According to Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, Express Entry invitations for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates will resume by early July. IRCC also plans on processing the vast majority of Express Entry applications within 6 months. Current Express Entry processing times range from 9 and 20 months.

Express Entry draws for FSWP candidates have been on hold since December 2020, whereas, draws for CEC candidates have been paused since September 2021. The processing times for both these programs are currently well above IRCC’s 6-month target. 

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The IRCC temporarily paused draws for these candidates in order to allocate resources to reduce the Express Entry backlog – which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to IRCC figures from the April 22 announcement, 156,000 permanent residence decisions were made between January 1 and March 31, 2022 – which is double compared to the same period in 2021. 

Although the number of immigrants expected to immigrate under the Express Entry system has been reduced in 2022 and 2023, IRCC aims to welcome more than 110,000 new immigrants through Express Entry by 2024. 

What is the Express Entry System?

Express Entry is the fastest and most popular pathway to permanent residence for immigrants seeking a new life in Canada. 

Express Entry Program is an online system used by the Canadian government to organize and process applications for skilled workers who wish to immigrate to Canada and acquire Canadian permanent residence status. The system manages three main federal economic programs Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), Federal Skilled Trades (FST), and Canadian Experience Class (CEC).