CRS Drops to 432 Points in New Express Entry Draw

Key Highlights

The Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently invited 5,000 Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates in the latest Express Entry draw. 

Eligibility Criterion

The candidates who received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) had to have a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of at least 432. This is 17 points lower than the last CEC-specific draw held on March 18.

If multiple candidates had the lowest score of 432 points, they would receive an ITA only if they submitted their profile with the Express Entry system before 9:51:22 AM on February 16 this year.

The tie-break rule was implemented by the IRCC in March last year after the travel restrictions were placed.

Draws in 2021

This is the 11^th draw held by the IRCC this year, bringing the total number of ITAs issued to 49,120. These draws were focused only on CEC and Provincial Nomination Program (PNP) candidates.

This high number of invites is mainly due to the February 13 draw. It was a CEC-focussed draw that invited a total of 27,332 candidates with a minimum CRS score of just 75 points.

At this time, in 2021, the IRCC had issued only 22,600 invitations to immigration candidates. This was mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions on non-essential travel.

Express Entry

The Express Entry System is an immigration application management system used by Canada to award permanent resident status.

It manages applications under the three federal immigration streams: