Canada now widens ambit of its Express Entry draws

MUMBAI: On July 8, for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, Canada held its all-program Express Entry draw to invite permanent residents. Since early March, while regular draws were being held, these were restricted to Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and Provincial Nominee Program (PNPs) draws.
As reported by TOI, in its edition of July 6, CEC and PNP candidates are largely already in Canada and less likely to be impacted by international travel restrictions. However, to an extent, even people who were overseas were being invited under the Express Entry linked PNP draws.

Express Entry is a point-based mechanism used by the Canadian government to manage applications from skilled and qualified workers, for permanent residence through three economic immigration programs. These are the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Trades Class. In 2019, 45% of the total invitations under the Express Entry system were under the Federal Skilled Worker Program – this category was included in the July 8 draw.
The recent all-program Express Entry draw, has resulted in an issue of 3,900 invitations to apply for permanent residence. The cut-off Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score was 478.