Provincial Nominations | 654 Candidates Invited

Canada invited 654 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence on February 10, 2021.

In the current draw, only candidates who had secured a selection through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) were invited, which is why the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) cut-off score specific to the draw was fixed at 720. All the candidates who were nominated by provinces received a bonus 600 points that was added to their overall CRS score , respectively.

The CRS score was 21 points lower than that of the previous PNP-specific round of invitations held on January 20, 2021.1

Express Entry is a system used by the federal government of Canada to manage Canadian permanent residence applications for Canada’s three main economic-class programs:

• Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)

• Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) and

• Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

The highest-ranked candidates in the pool are then invited to apply for permanent residence through regular Express Entry draws. After applying, if the application is successful, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada will then make a final decision on the Candidate’s application towards immigration and send a Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR). The final step is to land in Canada and apply for the PR card. The candidate is now immigrated officially, and may subsequently apply for citizenship – this is optional, though.

Although a job offer is not required to qualify under the Express Entry System, the CRS awards additional points for candidates having a valid job offer. The large number of ITAs is aligned with the commitment of the government of Canada to welcome more than 400,000 new migrants by 2021 – most of them though Express Entry aligned stream.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 was a record-breaking year for Express Entry. By the end on the year 2020, Canada had granted 108,350 ITAs to Express Entry candidates. 2021 is expected to be an even bigger year, as Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada has raised immigration targets to higher levels compared to the target set for the year 2020.

This draw brings the total number of ITAs issued this year to 10,654, a new record for this date.

Tie-break rule applied in this draw saw the date and time used as of August 14, 2020, at 6:51:00 UTC. It means all candidates with a CRS score of 720 and above, and who submitted their profiles before the mentioned date & time received an ITA from the federal government of Canada.

The Government of Canada has a processing standard of six months for permanent residence applications filed through the Express Entry system.

Check out Owlspriority Immigration’s Canada Settlement Resources to learn more about ways to finding a new job in Canada, making your initial days in Canada stress-free and confident, etc.