The Federal Express Entry (EE) Draw #150 held on May 28, 2020 by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Services (IRCC) issued a total of 3515 Invitations to Apply (ITA) to candidates under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) category. The CEC candidates required a minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) of 440. This is the lowest CRS score we have seen for any EE draw this year. The CRS scores have continued to drop during each draw. Total ITA’s issued in 2020 is 42,100.
In order to qualify under the CEC, candidates must have 1 year of Canadian work experience out of the last 3 years. All draws held by IRCC since March 4th have been targeted CEC EE, or Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) EE draws. In response to the COVID-19 travel restrictions currently implemented by the Canadian Government, IRCC is restricting and targeting its draws to CEC and PNP candidates only. To date, we have not been advised when they will start conducting all-program draws again. The rationale held by IRCC is that with travel restrictions and the Quarantine Act, it is easier to grant permanent residency (PR) to applicants who are already in Canada.
Under current travel restrictions, the land-borders have restricted entry to only those carrying out “essential” services. This has severely halted individuals from being able to enter Canada. In addition, there are air travel bans as well, which makes it almost impossible to travel to Canada, even with a valid employment offer.
Currently, there are travel restrictions to ALL foreign nationals seeking to travel to Canada, unless they are covered under a specific exemption, and they are travelling for non-optional and non-discretionary purposes, and if entering from the U.S., foreign nationals must satisfy government officials that they are travelling for non-optional and non-discretionary purposes.
In order to determine whether you may qualify for the CEC EE, or if you already have received an Invitation and would like assistance on your PR application, feel free to contact us.
