“It’s been nearly a year since the last all-program Express Entry draws in Canada.”

On December 22, Canada welcomed 746 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residency.

Candidates that were invited had already received a nomination through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which increased their base human capital score by 600 points. As a result, 720 was set as the minimum cut-off for this draw.

PNP drawings have only been held by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) since September, and this is the eighth in a succession. IRCC has suspended CEC invitations to catch up on its backlog, according to an internal briefing memo. The department stated in the memo that it wanted to reduce Express Entry backlogs by half before considering candidates from other programmes.

IRCC invited a record-breaking 1,032 PNP aspirants to apply in the recent PNP draw. In that draw, the minimum score was 698.

One Year Without All-Program Draw

Canada has held an Express Entry draw that includes candidates from all programmes for the past year. Since December 23, 2020, IRCC has not welcomed candidates for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) or the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

IRCC has only performed Express Entry draws that target candidates from the PNP and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) throughout the year.

The concept was designed to allow IRCC to concentrate on admitting immigrants who were already in the country. Candidates applying for Canadian immigration from outside the country were not allowed to cross the border until June to activate their permanent resident status.

However, according to an IRCC briefing note, focusing on inland candidates and constructing the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence (TR to PR) pathway resulted in a significant backlog of applicants.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced that the Atlantic Immigration Pilot would become a permanent programme in 2022 and that Canada would return to accepting a mix of immigrants from within and outside the country.

“I anticipate that as we move forward, we will have a healthy mix of people who are already here with some experience in Canada and others who may not yet be here who will come to Canada through a programme like the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, as the public health situation allows,” Fraser told reporters.

Since the outbreak, Canada has staged 35 PNP-specific Express Entry draws, in which 19,563 people have been invited to apply for permanent residency. During the same time period, Canada had 27 CEC draws, resulting in 133,868 invitations. Only 11 draws have been held since March 18, 2020, attracting Express Entry candidates from all programmes, including the FSWP.

Canada has invited more Express Entry applicants to seek permanent residence in 2021 than it did the previous year. Part of this is due to Canada’s February 13 draw, in which all 27,332 CEC candidates in the pool were invited at the same time.

Because IRCC has only held PNP drawings, the cut-off scores have stayed relatively high. PNP candidates in the Express Entry pool are practically guaranteed at least an invitation to apply for permanent residency because of their excellent scores.