ANALYSIS: Despite the corona virus pandemic, Canada is on track to shatter its Express Entry record.
Canada is on pace to issue 100,000 or more Express Entry invitations in 2020.
This would be remarkable, considering the negative impact that COVID-19 is having in Canada and around the world.
Prior to Canada imposing travel restrictions in March 2020, immigration minister Marco Mendicino announced the country would target 341,000 new permanent resident admissions in 2020.
In fact, Canada’s Immigration levels Plan 2020-2022 set a target to welcome 91,800 immigrants to Canada through Express Entry.
Express Entry is the main way Immigration, Refugees and Canada (IRCC) manages economic class immigration applications. The economic class accounts for nearly 60 per cent of all new immigrants welcomed by Canada each year.
Another possibility is that IRCC is holding larger draws since Canada has temporarily reduced its refugee intake due to the pandemic. Canada was aiming to welcome nearly 50,000 refugees in 2020 but this will no longer be the case. The larger draws may also be a function of other economic class programs such as the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), Quebec’s immigration programs, and other federal programs also falling short of their immigration targets in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Given the recent record-breaking Express Entry draws, it seems increasingly likely that Express Entry and overall immigration targets will remain high in 2021 and beyond.
