On March 2 Canada held its new draw. this is fifth PNP-only Express Entry draw of the year.
In this draw Canada invites 1,047 Express Entry candidates to apply for Canadian immigration.
IRCC invited Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates in the new invitation round. The Comprehensive Ranking System(CRS) cut off was 761. The minimum score was relatively high because PNP candidates automatically get 600 points added to their score when they receive their nomination. Without the nomination, the lowest-scoring candidates would have had 161 basis points. Candidatts who invited in this draw have 60 days to apply for Canadian permanent residence.
In the previous round of invitations, IRCC invited a total of 1,082 PNP candidates to apply to immigrate to Canada. This was a record for the number of Express Entry candidates invited in a single round of invitations.
Canada has not held an Express Entry draw for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applicants since December 2020, and since September 2021 for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) applicants.
Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told business leaders in a webinar that IRCC would resume draws for skilled workers “in the near future”.
Although the immigration minister said there was no announcement on the resumption of skilled worker draws, he said Express Entry would start to look more normal in the coming years. According to the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan, Express Entry targets will be halved for skilled workers this year, but will return to normal by 2024. These targets may change when Canada releases the Levels Plan. 2023-2025 immigration levels in the fall.
Under the current levels plan, Canada plans to welcome 83,500 immigrants into Express Entry-aligned categories and core PNP categories in 2022. The new targets are higher than the government had planned in the previous tiers plan, which was 81,500 PCP immigrants for 2022, and 83,000 for 2023.
Despite the pause in FSWP and CEC draws, PNP draws continue in record numbers every two weeks. In February alone, IRCC issued 2,145 Invitations to Apply to Provincial Nominees, nearly double the previous month, when 1,428 PNP candidates were invited.
Fraser also said he was looking to add more flexibility to the Express Entry system. He suggested that Express Entry could be used to meet short-term needs such as the needs of small communities and certain in-demand sectors. The Minister had previously hinted that profession-specific Express Entry draws could be a possibility in the future.
