On September 14, Canada held a CEC draw to invite 2000 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence. The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates invited by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and need to score at least 462 to get invitation. Now, invited candidates have 60 days to apply for permanent residency.
The CEC application process
According to the government webpage, IRCC has a huge backlog and they are pushing their resources to focus on processing the CEC applicants. In the current scenario, officers are busy in finalizing CEC applications received in January. As per the department, all other Express Entry applicants are expected to be delayed.
IRCC is focused on immigrant applicants who already reside in Canada to meet its target of 2021 immigrants, which is affected due to travel restrictions. Most CEC candidates in the Express Entry pool applied from inside the country. It is mandatory for CEC candidates to have at least one year of full-time work experience in Canada in a skilled occupation.
Invitations for Express Entry have doubled in 2021
As compared to last year, IRCC has doubled the number of invitations to apply this year. The more invitations will increase the chances of meeting the IRCC target of 108,500 newcomers’ through the Express Entry system in 2021. According to the nature of CEC and PNP only draws, the minimum score requirements go up and down. Generally, the CEC draw has lower cutoffs because it is focused on one group of applicants. These candidates will not compete with others in the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Like in IRCC, they invite more candidates in bigger draws and bring down the scores.
The PNP candidates will get 600 points automatically with their provincial nomination, so its minimum score cut off is always high.
What is Express Entry?
It is the most famous immigration program of Canada, using the Express Entry System for managing applications. There are three categories included in it: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Federal Skilled Worker Program. PNP candidates in the Express Entry pool have qualified for one of these programs. The point-based system is used by Express Entry for comprehensive ranking system to rank candidates’ profiles. Candidates with high scores will receive an Invitation to Apply and then apply for permanent residency.
