Maple News reports that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held a significant Express Entry draw on January 7, 2021, inviting 4,750 candidates from the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) to apply for permanent residence. This marks the second round of invitations issued by IRCC in just two days—a strong indication of the accelerated immigration efforts underway in early 2021.
To receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) in this CEC-specific draw, candidates needed a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 461. This relatively moderate cut-off makes the draw more accessible for individuals with Canadian work experience, further positioning CEC as an attractive route toward permanent residency amid ongoing border and travel restrictions due to COVID-19.
The results of the draw were officially released the following day, on January 8. This rapid follow-up reflects IRCC’s continued commitment to meeting Canada’s ambitious immigration targets, especially after a year of major disruptions due to the pandemic.
The draw came just two days after an earlier round on January 6, which saw 250 invitations sent to candidates nominated through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Those candidates required a much higher minimum CRS score of 813, largely because a PNP nomination automatically adds 600 points to a candidate’s base score, pushing their rankings significantly higher in the pool.
Over the past year, IRCC has frequently alternated between PNP- and CEC-specific draws to adapt to Canada’s changing operational and public health conditions. From March to August 2020, during the peak of Canada’s border closures, the agency prioritized candidates already living in Canada—particularly those in the CEC stream—to reduce reliance on incoming travelers.
However, in the latter part of 2020, IRCC began returning to all-program draws, including candidates from the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC). These broader invitation rounds reached record-breaking numbers, while CRS score requirements began to decrease gradually.
Express Entry is Canada’s main application system for skilled immigration, managing applicants across three categories: CEC, FSWP, and FSTC. It ranks candidates based on factors such as work experience, education, language proficiency, and age to ensure that the most qualified individuals are invited to become permanent residents.
With the early momentum seen in this first week of January, Canada appears poised to continue robust immigration activity in 2021. Whether this trend leads to more program-specific or all-program draws remains to be seen, but for now, the focus is clearly on welcoming skilled talent already contributing to Canada’s labor force—particularly those with Canadian work experience.