Minimum CRS drops to 442 in second Express Entry draw in 11 days

The Government of Canada has issued invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence to 3,750 Express Entry candidates in a new draw held on June 25, 2018. The cut-off Comprehensive Ranking System score was 442.

Today's all-programs draw is the second Express Entry invitation round in 11 days and is the second consecutive draw in which 3,750 candidates were issued Invitations to Apply, or ITAs, the record high for 2018.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) used its tie-break rule in this draw. The tie-break date and time for this latest invitation round was January 28, 2018 at 21:06:11 UTCC. This means that all candidates with a CRS score above 442, as well as those candidates with scores of 442 who submitted their profile before the specified tie-break date and time, received an ITA in this invitation round.

The large draw size combined with the relatively short duration between draws contributed to the score going down by nine points from the previous cut-off score of 451 in the June 20 invitation round.

Canada has increased the number of candidates it plans on welcoming through Express Entry in 2018 and again in 2019, to 74,900 and 81,400, respectively.

Even with larger, more frequent draws, like the one seen today, IRCC still has a long way to go in order to surpass the ITAs issued in 2017.

So far in 2018, IRCC has issued 39,700 ITAs.

The following hypothetical example illustrates a candidate who would have obtained an ITA in today’s draw:

Raj and Deshi are 29 years old, married and each holds a bachelor's degree. Each has been working as a software engineer for three years and they both have advanced English language proficiencies. While neither has worked or studied in Canada, their CRS score of 443 would have been high enough to obtain an ITA during the June 25 Express Entry draw.

"Today's draw is a good reminder of the impact that two large draws in quick succession can have on the CRS cut-off, in this case reducing it by nine points," said Attorney David Cohen, senior partner at the Campbell Cohen Canadian immigration law firm in Montreal.

To find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool, fill out a free assessment form.

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Tips for improving your CRS score

There are a number of ways Express Entry candidates may be able to improve their ranking. Visit this dedicated page to learn strategies for improving your CRS score.