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Canada Express Entry ITA’s: Low CRS Cut-Off score of 469 for 5,000 candidates

The Canadian government continues the highest numbers of “Invitations to Apply” (ITA’s) second time in a row.

Canada issues 5,000 more invitations to apply to express entry candidates. The candidates had to score 469, a 3 less than last time where it was 472. This is called a comprehensive ranking system. Points are awarded to candidates based on human capital such as age, education, work experience, and proficiency in English or French – these programs score candidates as well as some Provincial Nominated Programs (PNPs) based on CRS. The new draw brings the total number of ITAs issued in 2020 to 97,350.

The CRS cut score has come down than 470 the first time during more than the last 7 ITA draws for express entry.

  • Number of invitations issued: 5,000
  • Rank required to be invited to apply: 5,000th or above
  • Date and time of round: November 25, 2020, at 13:04:56 UTC
  • CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited: 469
  • Tie-breaking rule: October 15, 2020, at 08:50:10 UTC

Express entry new change. You can now earn up to 50 additional points for strong French language skills (even if French is your second language).

CRS score distribution of candidates in the Express Entry pool as of November 23, 2020

CRS score range Number of candidates
601-1200 185
501-600 160
451-500 25,109
491-500 122
481-490 213
471-480 1,679
461-470 12,007
451-460 11,088
401-450 44,153
441-450 10,293
431-440 10,390
421-430 7,259
411-420 7,633
401-410 8,578
351-400 47,111
301-350 24,477
0-300 3,273
Total 144,468


The following are Canada’s immigration application management system for federal economic-class programs through the Express Entry system.

Express entry programs

  • Federal Skilled Trades Program
  • Canadian Experience Class
  • Federal skilled Worker Program

Canada has been able to receive almost 128,186 immigrants so far during the first eight months of 2020. This seems well behind the set-aside target of 341,000 but according to ongoing pandemic issues, this still is being considered a big success. On the other hand, if Canada continues to receive new permanent residents at the rate it did in 2019, it will be able to finally have almost 241,000 new PR holders by the end of 2020.

What is CRS?

“The Comprehensive Rating System (CRS) is used by the Express Entry System to score candidates who apply through the federal government’s Skilled Worker Programs. These programs include the Federal Skilled Workers Program, the Federal Skilled Trade Program, and the Canada Experience Class.”

Invitation to Apply (ITA)

The standard procedure used to issue ITA is the Comprehensive Ranking System Score. Express entry is a competitive immigration selection system and the CRS score is a points system used to rank candidates against each other. Only the most competitive candidates get ITA.

What is a tie-breaking rule?

If there comes a tie between candidates in terms of gained score, IRCC applies the tie-breaking rule. For example, candidates who had a CRS score of 478 or more, need to have submitted their Express Entry profile before October 27 at 06:18:11 UTC in order to receive an invitation.

Canada travel restrictions

Canada has announced for the 5th time in a row the new travel restrictions. The country will have a travel ban until January 21. Canada has issued a new order to the council stating that travel restrictions that have been in place since March are being extended.

Canada immigration overview from last year

More than 190,000 immigrants arrived in Canada in 2019 under the economic class. Of these immigrants, only just over 90,000 arrived by express entry. Canada welcomes about 60% of its permanent residents in economic class. This will be the case as well under the 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan. The PNP program also contributed to the main immigration stream. Almost 71% of immigrants made it through Ontario. The ratio has been 8% for Alberta whereas 17% for British Columbia. There were 68,647 people selected through the Provincial Nominee Program in 2019, the highest number since the program’s launch.

Category wise list of immigrants reaching Canada in 2019

NOT STARTED
Immigration category NL PE NS NB QC ON MB SK AB BC YT NT NU TOTAL
ECONOMIC
Federal economic Skilled 194 89 736 364 0 64229 1037 1074 7540 14928 18 23 10 0 90242
Federal economic Category 27 0 37 7 644 4942 46 110 1884 2090 6 13 1 0 9807
Federal economic Business 5 70 19 12 0 635 21 10 95 469 0 0 0 0 1336
Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program 398 344 1572 1827 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4141
Provincial Nominee Program 569 1727 3513 2849 0 12341 12545 10962 11236 12575 267 63 0 0 68647
Quebec Skilled Workers 0 0 0 0 19098 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19098
Quebec Business Immigrants 0 0 0 0 3387 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3387
Economic Total 1193 2230 5877 5059 23129 82147 13649 12156 20755 30062 291 99 11 0 196658

New and popular immigration programs that contributed to Canadian immigration in 2019

  • Canada wants to ease tensions of one-sided immigration towards densely populated urban areas. This is why IRCC launched the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot in 2019 to support smaller and more remote communities to access the economic benefits of immigration.
  • The Department continued to work in partnership with the Atlantic provinces to enhance the effectiveness of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, an employer- and retention-driven approach to responding to the economic development and labor needs of Atlantic Canada.
  • The best option introduced for the temporary workers was the three-year Agri-Food Pilot. It was launched on May 15, 2020, and provides a new pathway to permanent residence for experienced non-seasonal workers in specific agri-food industries and occupations.

Read here the complete report for Canada visa stats.

Parents and Grandparents of Canada

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