27,322: Canada invited the largest number of candidates ever to apply for PR
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada invited the largest number of candidates ever, at 27,322, to apply for permanent residence. All invites were sent to those candidates in the Canadian Experience Class pool, who had a minimum score of 75. Normally, the required score was over 450, and the number of Invitations to Apply (ITAs) was between 3,000 to 4,500 per draw.
To be invited to apply for permanent residence under the latest draw, the Canadian government only required foreign nationals to have a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score (the number of points granted to an applicant based on experience, education and language skills, among others) of 75 in the Canadian Experience Class pool.
With this latest draw, the government has reviewed all Canadian Experience Class applications that were pending as of February 13, 2021.
Many more foreign nationals will be able to apply for permanent residence than would normally be able to after this Express Entry draw, although they may have lesser qualifications than under previous draws. This could cause a backlog in the immediate term as applicants have 90 days to submit their application from the date of invitation.
Since far fewer foreign nationals have immigrated to Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost a year ago, Canada did not reach its immigration target last year. As a result, the government has significantly increased its immigration targets this year and for the next two years. This draw helps to put the federal government on track to meet this year’s goal – if similar-sized draws occur in this and the other permanent residence categories.
