Canada has had a top half-year point in terms of the numbers of invitations issued to Express Entry candidates.
The second quarter of 2021 was another record-breaker in the Canadian immigration world. Canada has invited 44,591 immigration candidates to apply for permanent residence through the Express Entry system.
The number of Express Entry candidates invited this past quarter tops the previous record from the first quarter of 2021, which was 44,124.
As of June 30, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has issued a total of 88,715 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residents, smashing the previous record in 2017.
Q2: Large draws, low CRS cutoffs
Every single draw since the start of 2021 has been program-specific. Typically, the pattern has been one Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw followed by a Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draw.
IRCC has been doing this in an effort to admit Express Entry candidates who are most likely in Canada, avoiding hurdles that come with inviting candidates who are overseas. In May, about 95 per cent of CEC candidates were in Canada, according to IRCC data. About 30 per cent of PNP candidates were in Canada during the same time frame.
IRCC held more draws in the second quarter, 14 compared to 10. The department had taken a break from holding draws in the first quarter after inviting every CEC-eligible candidate in the pool.
Furthermore, the draw sizes were greater. Aside from the giant February 13 draw, Canada started holding larger draws in Q2. Some CEC draws went up to 6,000 ITAs starting in April. In late June, a PNP draw breached the 1,000 mark for the first time ever.
With bigger draw sizes came lower CRS cutoffs. Since IRCC was taking more off the top, it allowed CEC candidates in the 300s to start receiving invitations. For CEC candidates, the CRS requirement has been on a downward slope since May. The latest draw only required candidates to have a CRS of 357. Without the February 13 draw, this would have been the lowest CRS requirement of any CEC draw ever.
