EE draw #164: Cut off score continues to drop!
The Government of Canada issued 4,200 invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residence in Canada for Express Entry candidates in a draw held on September 30, 2020. It was an all-program draw for the 3rd time in a row – the first time since pre-COVID.
The required Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score in this last round of invitations was 471, an decrease of 1 point over the previous Express Entry draw held on September 16.
Is the Express Entry draw going back to pre-COVID CRS scores?
Before COVID-19, the Express Entry draws were in the low 470s – hovering around 471, sometimes up to 473, sometimes down to 469. What happened in March, due to the pandemic situation, is that immigration Canada started only inviting people eligible through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program and the scores started dropping considering that there are not as many people in that program (as it requires applicants to have 1+ years of Canadian work experience). This led to the cut-off scores dropping to as low as 431.
Note: you can find the entire list of the latest Express Entry draws in our portal here and a few of the recent ones below:
After a few months of only CEC or PNP draws, in July we saw the first non-CEC only draw (which jumped up to 478). In August, the first draw was an all-program draw and the second one was back to CEC-only. But all 3 draws since have been all-program draws, which is quite an optimistic scenario for those outside of Canada.
Unfortunately, no one can predict what is going to happen next. It seems that as long as COVID-19 remains under control, Immigration Canada is going to continue to do their all-program draws and it seems like the number is coming back down to where it was pre-COVID (into the low 470s), but it is hard to say if it could break into the 460s.
Future Express Entry Draw Considerations
- Will COVID come back? If there’s a second wave and the Canadian Government imposes further restrictions or keeps the travel restrictions around for longer, IRCC may go back to the CEC-only draws. One of the reasons why for a long time they were only inviting people from the Canadian Experience Class is because people outside of the country cannot enter Canada now due to the travel restrictions imposed by Canadian authorities.
- Is Immigration Canada going to increase the number of ITAs to be issued? Immigration Canada has to play catch-up as they had much lower immigration numbers in 2020 than they expected. So if they do that and invite even more people to apply – assuming that the COVID-19 situation will remain under control – the scores will likely continue to come down.
Again, our analysis cannot be taken as a guarantee. There are so many variables to consider and we are going through a very unpredictable period, not to mention a second wave of COVID-19 cases spiking all over Canada.
To stay up-to-date on all of the above and get started on your own immigration journey to Canada, make sure to join our free immigration portal here!
