On December 22, Canada invited 746 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence.
The invited candidates had previously received a nomination through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), adding 600 points to their baseline human capital score. As a result, the minimum threshold for this draw was 720.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has only been holding PNP raffles since September – now it is the eighth in a row. According to an internal briefing note, IRCC has suspended invitations to the CEC to catch up. In the memo, the ministry said it wanted to halve Express Entry backlogs before considering inviting applicants from other programs.
In the previous PNP draw, IRCC invited a record 1,032 PNP applicants to apply. The minimum score in this draw was 698.
