The tie-break rule in the Express Entry system

Canada’s Express Entry system is one of the most popular immigration systems in the world because of its efficiency. If you are curious about Express Entry, you must have heard of the tie break rule. All the Express Entry draws organized since the middle of March have utilized the tie-break rule, so it is important that you know why it plays such a major role.

Canada imposed temporary travel restrictions in the middle of March in order to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Each Express Entry draw since then has implemented the tie-break rule when inviting candidates.

How does the tie-break rule work?

The tie-break rule provides the easiest way to assign ranks to candidates with the same Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. The CRS score of a candidate is still considered to be the primary factor when picking candidates who are to be given invitations to apply for permanent residence.

In order to avoid confusion, candidates are given the ranks based on the date and time when they submitted their Express Entry profiles into the pool. Hence, the tie-break rule gives more priority to profiles that have been registered in the pool for a longer period of time. It is a first-come-first-serve approach to keep the draws as effective as possible.

Candidates are free to make changes to their Express Entry profile at any time without altering the timestamp of the original submission. The system will always consider the date on which you submitted your profile for the first time. However, the profile will not retain the timestamp in case of deletion. If you choose to delete your Express Entry profile and resubmit your profile, the date in the system will be reset.