Canada Held Express Entry Draw to Invites 500 PNP Candidates

2020 was not the most fruitful year for Canada in terms of immigration because of the pandemic. Hence, the country is determined to boost its immigration numbers in 2021. Canada is aiming to invite 108,500 new immigrants via Express Entry-managed programs this year. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been holding big Express Entry draws consistently to invite hundreds of candidates at a time.

Details of the draw

On May 26, Canada held a PNP-specific Express Entry draw and invited 500 eligible candidates. The selected candidates will now be able to apply for permanent residence.

For this draw, IRCC exclusively focused on candidates who had already secured a provincial nomination via the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). All the selected candidates had to satisfy the minimum score requirement of 713. The required score was on the higher side because provincial nominees have 600 extra points automatically added to their score.

This means that the minimum score requirement after factoring out the reward points was just 113. The PNP is vital to Canadian immigration because it allows the province to select candidates with the ideal skills to fulfill their labor needs.

IRCC usually provides a cutoff time as part of the tie-break rule. This applies even if there has been no actual draw in the proceedings. The May 26 draw saw candidates receiving invitations only if they had registered their Express Entry profile prior to 09:50:14 UTC, April 06, 2021.

IRCC has issued invitations to 68,817 candidates this year already. PNP and CEC draws are receiving priority at the moment because of the prevailing travel restrictions.