The Government of Canada issued 3350 Invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residency under the Express Entry Draw held on February 20 which helped the total number of ITA’s to reach a number of 14,500 in 2019. This is a record-breaking start to a year since the invention of this Express Entry system in 2015. A total of 70 percent increase was noticed by IRCC when compared to the previous year.

These draws take place every two weeks with the help of people at IRCC who are responsible for allotting Invitations to Apply (ITA’s). These ITA’s are issued in accordance with a candidate’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score; based on various common factors including the candidate’s education, age, work experience, and language proficiency. The Express Entry system is further categorized into 3 federal high skilled economic programs, which are, The Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class, and Canadian Experience Class.  

February’s minimum CRS score is 19 points more than the previous draw which was held on 30th January. It was a total of 457. The last 3 weeks that elapsed since the previous draw resulted in the filling up of the Express Entry pool with higher scoring candidates which resulted in the increase witnessed in the cut-off score. The January 30th draw was held just one week after the previous invitation round on 23rd January which resulted in fewer candidates getting a chance to submit a profile and a decrease in a lower CRS minimum score, it was 438.

IRCC also introduced the tie-break rule in February 20 draw and the time stamp used was December 6, 2018, at 12:38:11 UTC. This meant that every candidate with a CRS score above or equal to 457 entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before the selected date and time were successful in receiving an ITA in the invitation round.

The CRS score can also be improved by applying under the Provincial Nomination Program (PNP). The provinces of Canada including Manitoba, Ontario, and BC issued ITA’s (invitations to apply) to candidates under the PNP during the three-week gap and these candidates were successful to gain an additional 600 points towards their CRS score which helps to guarantee an invitation to apply for Canadian Permanent Residency.