Canada held its first Express Entry draw to focus on Federal Skilled Workers since the launch of the Express Entry application management system in 2015.
February 2, 2023, Express Entry draw selected 3,300 candidates under the Federal Skilled Worker category for Invitations to Apply for permanent residency. The minimum CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) score for this draw was 489.
It follows the first program-specific draw on February 1, 2023, which issued 893 Invitations to Apply for permanent residence. The CRS threshold of these candidates was 733, as they had provincial nominations.
The higher CRS threshold was because the provincial nomination adds 600 points to the candidate’s Express Entry CRS score. The draw applied a tie-breaker to profiles received before December 9, 2023.
All candidates receiving invitations through these Express Entry draws should apply for Canadian Permanent Residence within 60 days.
The Express Entry draws for Federal high-skilled streams comprising the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) began after a gap of 18 months.
The all-program bi-weekly draws continued after June 2022 following an eighteen-month gap. However, there was a pause to these draws in December 2022. The suspension was probably because of an IT glitch as Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (IRCC) shifted to the new NOC 2021.
