New Express Entry draw continues trend of 3,750 ITAs

Today’s minimum score is the same as the previous invitation round on June 25 and the 3,750 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) issued is the same as the last two draws, held on June 13 and June 25. (Shutterstock)

The Government of Canada has invited 3,750 Express Entry candidates to apply for Canadian permanent residence in a draw held on July 11. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score for this draw was 442.

Today’s minimum score is the same as the previous invitation round on June 25 and the 3,750 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) issued is the same as the last two draws, held on June 13 and June 25.

The tie-break date and time used in this draw was June 26, 2018, at 13:18:55 UTC. This means that all candidates with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score above 442, as well as those candidates with scores of 442 who submitted their profile before this specified date and time, received an ITA in this invitation round.

The fact the minimum score did not change between draws, despite the large draw size, may be linked to the fact more than two weeks elapsed between the June 25 draw and today’s invitation round. More time between draws allows the Express Entry pool more time to replenish and can have the effect of elevating the cut-off CRS score.

The 3,750 ITAs issued in the previous three draws is the current high point of a trend established in late 2017 that has seen Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) employ draw sizes that remain the same over successive invitation rounds and then increase by increments of 250 or 500 roughly every two months.

Draw sizes began at 2,750 ITAs this year and have steadily increased to 3,000, 3,500 and now 3,750.

The increase to 3,750 ITAs for both the draws held last month established a new Express Entry record for the month of June. The 7,500 ITAs issued last month more than doubled the 3,409 issued in June 2017.

Today’s draw already surpasses the total ITAs issued in all of July 2017, when one draw was held and 3,202 ITAs were issued.

With today’s results, IRCC has now issued a total of 43,450 ITAs in 2018 over 14 draws.

Given the higher admissions targets that Canada has set for both 2018 and 2019, draws may continue to be both large in size and frequent in the coming months.

The Express Entry system manages the pool of candidates for Canada’s three main economic immigration categories — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class and the Canadian Experience Class.

The following hypothetical examples illustrates a candidate who would have obtained an ITA in today’s draw:

Anika is 36 years old, holds a Master’s degree and has been working as a management consultant for five years. She has an advanced English language proficiency. While Anika has never worked or studied in Canada, her CRS score of 442 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in today’s Express Entry draw.

Ranya and Darius are married, both have a Bachelor’s degree and each has been working as a graphic designer for four years. They each have advanced English language proficiencies. Ranya is 29 years old while Darius is 33.

Neither has ever worked or studied in Canada. They entered the Express Entry pool with Ranya as the principal applicant and obtained a CRS score of 443. Their score would have been high enough to obtain an ITA during the July 11 draw.

“We’ve now seen back-to-back months that have surpassed the number of ITAs issued in both June and July 2017 and that’s a welcome trend given the quieter than expected start we had to 2018,” said David Cohen, senior partner with the Campbell Cohen Canadian immigration law firm in Montreal. “It’ll be interesting to see if this trend of larger draw sizes continues as the summer continues.”