June 24, 2020 – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), conducted a targeted Express Entry (EE) draw #153, issuing 392 Invitations to Apply (ITA) to candidates holding Provincial Nominations (PNP) with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) score of 696. The CRS cutoff score has dropped since the last EE PNP draw on June 10th, which was 743, so there has been a 47-point drop in scores.
Why Targeted Draws
This was also a targeted draw by IRCC, which has been the trend since the COVID-19 pandemic. The selection of PNP candidates aligns with IRCC’s commitment to provide the Provinces with their annual allocations for immigration.
For the time being, Canadian Experience Class and PNP candidates are being prioritized. Canadian Experience Class candidates are being chosen because they are already in Canada and would not be subject to travel restrictions and quarantine.
Will IRCC Resume All-Program Draws
We have been advised that IRCC is monitoring the pool of applicants and processing environment. There have been discussions ongoing about including other categories, but this won’t be happening right now. They are monitoring where the majority of applicants are in the pool. So far, they recognize there are many Federal Skilled Trade (FST) candidates who are already in Canada (60-80%), so FST will likely be first expansion.
As of June 22nd, there are 142,636 applicants in the EE pool.
