This all-stream draw, which was held on March 15, saw the minimum score required under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) remaining steady at 490 (same as the previous draw on January 18). However, the number of candidates to whom Immigration Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) will invite for filing in permanent residency applications has shot up to 7,000 up from 5,500 in the previous draw.
Express Entry is Canada’s flagship point-based mechanism for skilled individuals seeking to immigrate on a long-term basis. It is a system used by the Canadian government to manage applications from skilled and qualified workers for permanent residence through three economic immigration streams. These are the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Trades Class. The all-stream draws cover all the above streams. Aspiring candidates complete an online profile, they are then entered into the Express Entry pool and are ranked relative to each other based on a score under the Comprehensive Ranking System. Those who meet the cut-off score in that draw are sent an invitation to apply.
Prior to resumption of the all-stream draws in July 2022 – which had seen a halt owing to the pandemic, the last draw that was held on December 23, 2020 had a minimum CRS score was 468 with invitations to apply sent to 5,000 candidates. While the number of invites has reached the pre-pandemic levels – the cut-off CRS score continues to remain high above 490.
Immigration experts view that it is difficult to get a firm fix on what the minimum required CRS scores will be in the months ahead. Express-entry draws to target specific National Occupation Classification (NOC) Codes are also likely to be introduced this year.
According to Alberta based, Ken Nickel-Lane, founder of an immigration services firm, “If you have a score in the higher ranges (450 and above), it is reasonable to expect scores to possibly come down to that level in the next 6-12 months. However, there are so many influencing factors at play, I would qualify that by suggesting your odds increase notably if your work experience is within a job family, or an occupation code which is in high demand. It also remains to be seen how the NOC specific draws are handled.”