Canada Express Entry starts 2019 off with a bang! The first Express Entry draw of 2019 issued 3,900 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residence, setting the new record for the largest first draw ever. If this is any indication of the year to come, we can expect a truly memorable year for the Canadian Express Entry system.
What Is the Canadian Express Entry System?
The Canadian Express Entry system was introduced to hasten the application process for those who would like to immigrate to Canada. Our country is in great need of Skilled Workers and the Express Entry system streamlines this process, allowing candidates to come to Canada in as little as 6 months. The Express Entry system manages the pool of candidates of Canada’s three Federal Immigration Programs, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class. If you would like to be considered for fast processing under Express Entry, you will need to create an online Express Entry profile. During this process, you will be asked a series of questions relating to your age, education background, work experience, language skils, ability to adapt to Canadian life and more. Your answers to these questions will determine your Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, which is used to determine your rank in the pool of candidates. During regular Express Entry draws (typically every two weeks), candidates with the highest ranking CRS scores are issued ITAs for Canadian permanent residence. Once you receive an ITA, you are given 60 days to submit your complete application for Canadian permanent residence.
Latest Canada Express Entry Draw
Now that you know more about the Express Entry system, let’s dig into the details of the first Express Entry draw of 2019. The minimum CRS score of the latest draw was 449. This means that candidates who meet the requirements for one of the Federal Economic Programs and have CRS score of 449 or above were issued ITAs. The tie-break rule was used and the time stamp chosen was January 2,2019 at 11:40:53 UTC. The tie-break rule is used when there are multiple candidates who meet the minimum CRS score of a particular draw but there are not enough ITAs available for all of them. In this case, candidates who entered the Express Entry pool first are given priority over those who entered their profile later. Candidates with a minimum score of 449 who entered their profile into the pool before January 2,2019 at 11:40:53 UTC were all issued ITAs. The following are hypothetical examples of the kind of profiles that received an ITA in the first Canada Express Entry draw of 2019. Jennifer is a 29-year-old high school teacher with 6 years of work experience in her field. She has a bachelor's degree in education and also holds a postgraduate degree in high school education. She scored an 8 on all four categories - reading, listening, speaking and writing - of the IELTS test. Her CRS score is 474 which would have resulted in her receiving an ITA. John is a 28-year-old analyst and his wife Jane is a programmer. Both John and Jane have 5 years of work experience in their field. Either of them have ever worked or studied in Canada but they hold bachelor degrees from their home country. John scored an 8 in all categories of IELTS and Jane scored a 7. John is the principal applicant and his CRS score is 453. Canada’s latest multi-year immigration plan revealed that 1.3 million immigrants will be welcomed into the country by 2021. To meet this great target, 2019 will see larger quotas for all the Canadian immigration programs. The admission target for Canada’s Federal Economic Programs in 2019 is currently set at 81,400, 6500 higher than last year. We firmly believe that Express Entry draws will be even larger than the first draw of the year so that Canada can meet their immigration targets. Looking at trends from previous years, we know that draws normally become bigger as the year progresses. Given that draws never exceeded 3,900 last year, 2019 looks to be a pretty exciting year for Express Entry.
How to Get Your Own ITA
The best piece of advice we can give you is to improve your CRS score. The Canadian immigration system is merit-based, meaning skilled workers with the highest CRS scores will be rewarded with ITAs. Make sure your application is the best it can be with our expert help. But before you apply, let’s first make sure you qualify for Canadian immigration with our comprehensive online evaluation system.
