On July 6, 2022, IRCC held their latest Express Entry Draw, which noted a minimum score requirement of 557. While this Draw acknowledged IRCC’s 226th Draw under the Express Entry Program, it has been the first draw since September 2021 which allowed applicants outside of the Provincial Nominee Category to receive an invite.
So why is this important?
To answer that, we must expand a little further on what Express Entry is and what it intends to do.
Essentially, the Express Entry system is an immigration stream introduced by IRCC in an attempt to target qualified and eligible candidates interested in migrating to Canada, thereby expediting their applications to do so.
To date, the Express Entry system holds four main streams, including:
- Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP);
- Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP);
- Canadian Experience Class (CEC),
- Provincial Nominee Program (PNPs).
However, while most applicants fall under the first three streams, for the last year, given the recent influx in interest in Canada, and thus, interest in fast tracking one’s application as quickly as possible, Canada has seen more interest in the Provincial Nominee Stream than ever before: resulting in more and more invites per month.
As the Provincial Nominee Program allows provinces and territories to nominate qualified candidates to work and live in their respective provinces, Applicants can be granted up to an additional 600 points for receiving a Provinces’ support; making it theoretically impossible to surpass the minimum cut off without a Provincial Nominee invite; thereby, causing a backlog in Express Entry applications as a result.
Subsequently, many Express Entry applicants have found themselves waiting months and even years for their invite under the current Express Entry regime and have begun losing hope on whether an invite would ever materialize.
Luckily, as the latest draw has finally re-opened invites to Applicants outside the Provincial Nominee Stream, issuing approximately 1,500 invites to Applicants under all four streams, IRCC is making it possible for more and more individuals to benefit from the Express Entry Stream overall.
As more Express Entry draws are anticipated to occur, (the next of which is tentatively scheduled for later this month), it can be assumed that more invitations are expected to follow as well.
As such, while only time will ultimately tell if this was a one-time freefall, or, an indication of draws to come, one can be hopeful in knowing there is an end in sight for all those outside of the Provincial Nominee stream and still patiently awaiting their own invites.
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This update has been compiled with the latest available information for the general information of Border Law clients and other interested parties. This Update is not comprehensive and should not be relied upon without appropriate legal advice.