On February 1, 2023, only PNP candidates were invited to participate in Express Entry.
The third Express Entry draw for 2023 has been held by IRCC. With a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 733, 893 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates received invitations to apply for permanent residence from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Since July 2022, this was the first program-specific Express Entry draw. IRCC held all-program drawings between July and today, during which it invited all qualified Express Entry candidates. Without a provincial nomination, candidates for one of the three programs run by the Express Entry application management system may be invited to participate in an all-program draw.
Candidates for this draw who used Express Entry have already been nominated by their home province. Through the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), Canadian provinces are able to propose candidates that support their local population and labor market goals. With the exception of Quebec and Nunavut, most of Canada's provinces and territories have PNPs that are in line with Express Entry.
The CRS score of a candidate is raised by 600 points when they are nominated by their province. Express Entry applicants needed a CRS score of 133 or higher in order to be eligible for a provincial nomination in this particular draw.
Recent Results - Express Entry:
After an unexpected break of six weeks between November 23 and January 11, the Express Entry draws restarted three weeks ago. Following the draw on January 11, IRCC held a second one on January 18.
IRCC just sent CIC News an email that suggests the stop was caused by a system fault that happened with the installation of the National Occupation Classification (NOC 2021) on November 16. The cause of the pause has not been officially confirmed, but it is suggested by the email.
A representative for the IRCC stated, "Unfortunately, technical difficulties with the November 16, 2022 rollout of the new categorization system had negative effects on November 23, 2022, Express Entry invitation round. Although they caused IRCC clients a great deal of inconvenience, these technological problems have subsequently been fixed. On January 11, 2023, Express Entry successfully launched a round of invitations.
With a minimum CRS cut-off score of 507, 5,500 individuals were selected in the January 11 draw. On January 18, the next week, IRCC held a second unexpected draw with the same number of applicants but a substantially lower CRS score of 490.
The purpose of express Entry is to find and target applicants who the government deems to be highly talented. These candidates have a higher likelihood of integrating rapidly and having a beneficial effect on the labor force and economy of Canada. This is due to the fact that up to 90% of Canada's labor force growth and roughly 75% of its population growth can be attributed to immigration.