Canada held a surprise draw right before the weekend. The draw is the second-largest in Express Entry’s history.

Canada held a new Express Entry draw, inviting candidates who had scores of at least 417 points on Friday April 16, 2021.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited 6,000 Canadian Experience Class candidates to apply for permanent residence in the new invitation round. IRCC issued 1,000 more invitations compared to the previous CEC-only draw and the score requirement was 15 points less than the last draw.

The draw was a rare Friday evening one, right before the weekend in Canada. Express Entry draws usually take place during the week to give immigration candidates and their representatives more time to prepare their permanent residence applications.

It was also the second-largest draw in Express Entry’s history. The three largest draw sizes have all occured within the last few months as IRCC has increased draw sizes to compensate for the decline in immigration to Canada in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The previous record was 5,000 permanent residence invitations, before it was shattered when 27,332 candidates were invited on February 13.

For today’s draw, candidates who had the minimum score of 417 were only invited if they submitted their Express Entry profile before March 1, 2021 at 19:53:46 UTC, as per the tie-break rule. IRCC publishes the cut-off time for the tie-break rule as an administrative requirement, regardless of whether there was an actual tie.

“IRCC continues to work overtime in 2021,” said David Cohen, Senior Attorney at Campbell Cohen. “This late-Friday draw shows just how committed they are to achieving their 401,000 newcomer target this year in support of Canada’s economic growth.”

A busy week in Canadian immigration

This week has been an eventful one in Canadian immigration. IRCC held an Express Entry draw Wednesday inviting 266 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates to apply for permanent residence.

IRCC made the biggest announcement of the week on the same day, and the biggest announcement in quite some time. IRCC introduced six new permanent residence streams that will launch in May. The purpose of the new streams is to provide some 90,000 additional permanent residence spots to temporary residents already in Canada. These include temporary foreign workers in essential occupations in Canada, recent international graduates, and francophones. These streams, in combination with Express Entry draws, and other initiatives such as the PNP are aimed at helping Canada to achieve its 401,000 immigration target in 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The PNP has also been active this week with BC, Alberta, Ontario, and PEI each holding draws.