The Government of Canada invited 500 Federal Skilled Trades Class candidates with Comprehensive Ranking Scores as low as 357 to apply for Canadian permanent residence in a new Express Entry draw held October 16.
The program-specific draw was the second of 2019 to target candidates in the Federal Skilled Trades Class, which is open to foreign nationals with a certificate of qualification that proves they are qualified to work in an eligible skilled trade in Canada OR have an eligible offer of employment in Canada, among other criteria.
The Federal Skilled Trades Class is one of three Federal High Skilled immigration programs managed by the Express Entry system. The other two are the Federal Skilled Worker Class and the Canadian Experience Class.
The vast majority of Express Entry draws involve candidates from all three classes and today’s draw was one of the rare exceptions to this rule.
The previous Express Entry draw held October 2 was an all-program draw that issued 3,900 invitations to apply (ITAs). Given Canada’s higher admission targets for its three Federal High Skilled immigration programs in 2019 and 2020, it is expected that IRCC will resume larger draws in the weeks to come.
All eligible Express Entry candidates are given a score under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) that is based on factors such as age, education, skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French and are entered into the Express Entry pool.
Today’s cut-off score of 357 was 81 points lower than the lowest cut-off score this year in an all-program Express Entry draw, which was 438.
The tie-break used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the October 16 draw was March 4, 2019, at 20:36:42 UTC. This means that all Federal Skilled Trades Class candidates with a CRS score above 357, as well as those with scores of 357 who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before this date and time, received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian permanent residence.
Today’s draw is a reminder of the various ways Express Entry candidates with lower CRS scores may receive an ITA.
