A Historic Express Entry Draw!
By CENK KEMAL HAZNACI
27,332 invitations to apply in a single draw!!
Today, February 13, 2021, marks a historic day in Express Entry and Canadian immigration in general. A whooping 27,332 Express Entry profiles under Canadian Experience Class were invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada. This is HUGE! To put things into perspective, shortly before this Express Entry draw, the EE pool had 152,714 candidates in it. That means 1/5.5 of Express Entry candidates got an invitation. This has never happened before.
the lowest cut-off score ever — 75!
The cut-off score was a shocking 75! This is the lowest cut-off ever. What that means is currently there is likely no one left without an invitation to apply in Express Entry pool under Canadian Experience Class.
What will be the ripple effects of this?
- With so many Canadian Experience Class people suddenly out of the pool, it is not unreasonable to think the cut-off score will drop for other programs as well. Provincial Nominee Program class people inherently don’t have a hard time securing a high CRS score, but for Federal Skilled Worker it is another story. So, rejoice FSW people! You might see much more favorable cut-off scores in the coming draws.
- The previous record high of invitees in a single draw was 5,000. Now that this record is shattered by a landslide, it is not hard to predict an enormous workload for IRCC case processing agents and visa officers. This might reflect in longer processing times for all Express Entry applicants. We were already having slow-downs due to COVID-19, this now might push things even further into an uncomfortable zone. With that said, we also know that IRCC is hiring officers as we speak/type/read. Will they be able to absord such a load without a prolonged processing time? Time will tell.
Why such a ginormous draw?
In October 2020, Government of Canada had already announced its plans to support economic recovery though immigration. Due to COVID-19, Canada’s immigration numbers had fallen and did not meet the 2020 targets.
In a press release today, Government of Canada points to the fact that travel restrictions limit the intake of immigrants. To tackle that, they have turned their attention to temporary residents who are already in Canada. That mainly means temporary foreign workers as Canadian Experience Class requires at least 1 year of Canadian work experience.
Ultimately, this giant draw is part of Canada’s economic recovery efforts.
Congratulations to everyone who got an invitation to apply today! Should you need help with filing your application, do not hesitate to contact us at contact@umkaimmigration.ca
