The Maple country’s latest Express Entry draw for potential candidates vouching for eventual immigration happened on the 7th of July, 2021 and it witnessed 627 applicants receiving their ITAs (Invitations to Apply) that could possibly culminate in them becoming permanent residents of the nation.

For this draw, the minimal requirement of a CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) score was 760 for all eligible applicants. In case some of these happen to procure a nomination from any of the Canadian provinces beforehand, they automatically become eligible to bag a whopping bonus of 600 CRS points. This indicates that they further required just a minimum of 160 core points to become fully eligible for this latest draw.

In the past, the country has held plenty of such program-specific draws, similar to this PNP-specific draw (Provincial Nomination Program), ever since the launch of travel rules, regulations, and restrictions imposed beginning from March 2020. Sparks of hope can be envisioned now as Canada vows to gradually ease down all these travel restrictions as the situation gets better across the nation.

This Express Entry system is a pathway solely managed and organized by the Canadian IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) that helps streamline potential applications for the purpose of permanent residency within the country. This takes place using one of the three popular economic-class pathways, namely, the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC), the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), or the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Keeping aside the Canadian provinces of Nunavut and Quebec, the rest of the territories and provinces are in possession of their own, personalized immigration programs that are totally aligned with the country’s federal Express Entry system.

After the creation of your own Express Entry profile using the common public online portal, one is allotted a suitable score based on a wide range of personal factors like the age group one belongs to, previous work experience, overall educational background, and language proficiency skills among others.

Based upon who’s applying at the same time, either an individual score or a score catering to a couple can be allotted at the same time. Later, an Express Entry draw is conducted and those possessing the highest amount of points within the pool of entrants stand a chance to be called for further PR application. On an average basis, these draws take place once every two weeks. However, the case is slightly different with the country’s program-specific draws, whereby two draws take place every two weeks, with a minor difference of a day or two between each of them.

Once the potential candidate receives an ITA, it’s their responsibility to submit an application for possible PR directly to the IRCC, following all rules and guidelines, as ultimately, the IRCC holds the core responsibility and authority to make the final decision. Majority of the applications get processed within a span of six months.

Those candidates who successfully sail through the entire process will receive a COPR (Confirmation of Permanent Residence) and a visa in case someone requires it to enter the Maple country. After this, they may proceed to take the final step in the process, which is traveling to Canada and eventually procuring their PR card.

Canada has vowed to meet the requirements of its immigration targets as projected for the year 2021, as it still keeps its wings wide open to invite any potential candidates for immigration.

The country has a solid projection and goal to send out approximately 400,000 ITAs to potentially eligible candidates every single year, between the time span of 2021 to 2023. For those currently looking to immigrate to Canada, they may proceed to create their Express Entry profiles through the online portal, as the IRCC is still actively selecting potential applicants despite the ongoing scenario of the travel restrictions owing to the pandemic.