Canada Organizes New CEC-Specific Express Entry Draw

On April 29, Canada organized a massive Express Entry draw to issue 6000 invitations to candidates belonging to the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). The selected candidates are good fits for the Canadian labor market and they can now apply for permanent residence.

Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

The Express Entry system acts as the main application management system for Canada. Interested candidates can immigrate to Canada via the Express Entry system. They are assigned a Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) on the basis of their language skills, educational qualifications, age and work experience.

The CEC came into existence back in 2008 to grant permanent residence to more international graduates and temporary workers. In order to be eligible for the CEC, candidates needed to have at least a year’s worth of work experience in Canada.

Details of the draw

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) set the minimum CRS score requirement at 400 which is the second-lowest score to ever be recorded for a CEC-specific draw. IRCC follows the tie-break rule for Canada Express Entry draws. Candidates in this draw must have registered their Express Entry profile prior to 15:24:49 UTC, April 24, 2021.

The pandemic has slowed down the process of distributing invitations because of the prevalent travel restrictions. Candidates might not be allowed to come to Canada from international countries if they receive an invitation. This is why IRCC has only organized CEC-specific draws this year. Most of the target CEC candidates are already living in Canada.