Canada Holds Record-Breaking Express Entry Draw on February 13

On February 13, Saturday, Canada created history by inviting thousands of candidates to submit their applications for permanent residence.

Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada issued invitations to a record 27,332 candidates during the latest Express Entry draw. The chosen candidates belonged to the Canadian Experience Class or CEC.

This massive draw has left everyone astonished, but it truly indicates Canada’s commitment to fulfilling the Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023. Canada wants to invite 401,000 new immigrants this year, and this is a huge step forward. 108,500 of these newcomers are going to arrive in Canada via Express Entry-managed programs.

Details of the draw

One of the most striking things about this draw was that the required Comprehensive Ranking System for the candidates was just 75. It was officially the lowest CRS score requirement ever. Before this, the record for the lowest CRS score requirement was 199 points back in 2017.

IRCC had to use the tie-break rule for the draw. This means that the candidates who were selected had a minimum CRS score of 75 and had registered their Express Entry profile prior to September 12, 2020, 15:31 UTC.

The February 13 draw was six times bigger than the previous record for the largest draw. Canada had invited a maximum of 5000 candidates in a single Express Entry draw before this.

With this draw it is clear that Canada is going to continue its boosted efforts of integrating more immigrants into the post-pandemic economy. The country has issued 27,986 invitations this week alone.

One explanation is that Canada wants to issue as many invitations as possible in the first few months of 2021 so that more candidates can complete their permanent residence landings by the end of the year.