22nd Express Entry Draw for Canadian Immigraton Sees CRS Point Requirement Decrease Once Again

the CanadaVisa Team - 04 December, 2015

The 22nd draw for Canadian immigration through the Express Entry selection system has been performed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on December 4, 2015. A total of 1,451 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for Canadian permanent residence were issued to candidates with 461 or more Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points.

This latest draw represents a significant drop in the CRS point requirement compared with the previous (21st) draw, which took place just seven days ago on November 27.

The CRS point requirement has decreased for each of the four draws that have taken place since October 23, from 489 to 484, then to 472, before this latest cut-off point of 461. The lowest CRS point requirement of any draw so far was 450.

CRS Point Requirement may continue to decrease

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has stated that the total intake of economic immigrants to Canada through Express Entry is set to increase once the backlog of applications from 2014 has been cleared. This was first disclosed in a mid-year CIC report that was released in August, and was reiterated more recently at the 23rd Annual Immigration Law Summit, which was held earlier last month in Toronto, Ontario.

At that summit, a spokesperson for CIC made some noteworthy comments about the past, present, and future of draws made from the Express Entry pool. The CIC spokesperson stated that the increase in the CRS point requirement in October, 2015 was largely due to the fact that many provinces did not open their Express Entry Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams, through which successful candidates may obtain an additional 600 CRS points, until months after the system was launched. As a result, there was a rush of PNP certificates being issued to proactive candidates in the Express Entry pool. This had the effect of increasing the number of candidates who have received an additional 600 CRS points.

In addition, the spokesperson said that the earliest Express Entry draws, which took place in the first few months of the year, had a relatively high CRS point requirement because of pent-up demand from candidates who already had job offers supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

Express Entry

Express Entry is Canada's immigration management system for the federal economic immigration programs, namely: Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades, and the Canadian Experience Class. Express Entry came into operation on January 1, 2015.

Eligible candidates may submit a profile into the Express Entry pool, where they are ranked according to the CRS. The government of Canada selects the top-ranked candidates on a priority basis when it performs one of its frequent draws from the pool. Candidates who are issued an invitation to apply for permanent residence then have 60 days to submit a complete e-application, from which point the government of Canada aims to process the application within six months. A number of early applicants have had their applications processed in under half that time.

Click here for more information on draws from the Express Entry pool that have taken place so far.