Canada Express Entry: 919 ITAs Issued to PNP Nominees

Another round of Express Entry invitations went out to provincial nominees, the fifteenth PNP-only consecutive draw to be held. 

On March 30, 2022, Canada invited 919 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence. As per the past trend, the latest Express Entry draw also targeted provincial nominees under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). 

An Express Entry candidate is ranked based on a 1,200-points system called the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The score allotted is referred to as the CRS score of an Express Entry candidate. 

With a tie-breaking rule of November 15, 2021 at 20:23:16 UTC applied by IRCC to Express Entry Draw #219, candidates that received an invitation were those with - 

• A PNP nomination, 
• With at least CRS 785 as their ranking score, and
• That had created their profile before the specified date and time.

The tie-breaking rule is only applicable to profiles that have the minimum required CRS. In such situations, priority is given to those entering the Express Entry pool at an earlier date. 

An online application management system, Express Entry comes under the federal department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Canada PR applications from skilled foreign workers for the following programs are handled through Express Entry - 

• Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
• Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)
• Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

Some PNP streams are also linked with Canadian Express Entry. 

With a completely online application process, Express Entry-linked PNP streams have expedited processing. A PNP nomination for an Express Entry candidate is worth CRS 600 additional points in itself. With CRS 600 points of PNP nomination, a nominated Express Entry candidate is guaranteed an invitation to apply (ITA) from IRCC. You can’t submit your PR application under Canada Express Entry unless invited. 

Fetching 600 CRS points, a PNP nomination can get you your ITA from IRCC. As of March 28, 2022, there were 197,881 profiles in the Express Entry pool. Of these, only 918 were in the CRS 601-1,200 CRS score range. 

All the Canadian provinces (except Quebec) and all the Canadian territories (except Nunavut) are a part of PNP. Quebec is not a part of Express Entry or Canadian PNP. You will have to go through Quebec immigration programs to settle in Quebec as a permanent resident. The territory of Nunavut has no immigration program.