Canada invites 636 PNP candidates as minister offers date for next all-program draw

Immigration Minister told CIC News in an exclusive interview that IRCC is aiming to resume all-program Express Entry draws on July 6.

Canada invited 636 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence on June 22.

All invited candidates had previously received a nomination from a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) and had a  Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) of at least 752. The minimum score was relatively high because Express Entry candidates get an automatic 600 points added to their score when they receive a provincial nomination. Without the nomination, the lowest-scoring candidates would have had 152 base points.

In the previous draw, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited 932 Express Entry candidates with scores of at least 796.

Could this be the last PNP draw?

Yesterday, CIC News spoke with Immigration Minister Sean Fraser at the Collision Conference in Toronto, where the minister said IRCC is “tentatively” looking to resume all-program draws on July 6.

This past April, Fraser announced that Express Entry invitations for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates will resume by early July, but at that time did not offer a date.

Since September 2021, IRCC has only held draws for PNP candidates. IRCC has temporarily paused draws for CEC and FSWP candidates to reduce the Express Entry backlog, which was exacerbated by the pandemic.

IRCC’s application inventory of the three Express Entry programs has improved since the announcement. As of June 1, it stands at 31,603 persons compared to 40,889 at the end of April.

Although all-program draws could resume in two weeks, it may not be the end of PNP draws forever. Before the pandemic, IRCC occasionally held PNP-only draws. IRCC sees the PNP as paramount to supporting the economic development regions across Canada.

source: cicnews.com