Canada Express Entry draws for FSW and CEC to resume in July:
In early July of 2022, Express Entry draws for Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates will resume. On April 22, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser made the announcement, which will bring the FSW and CEC draws back to life after a month-long hiatus.
FSW have been suspended since December 2020, while CEC draws have been paused since September 2021. These draws will be suspended until Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has completed at least half of its backlog of high-skilled applicants, which stood at 111,900 in September 2021.
IRCC had decreased the backlog by more than half, to 48,000, as of March 2022, and plans to reduce it even further by July.
IRCC will resume Express Entry draws for FSW and CEC candidates in early July as a result of the progress in application processing
Predicting the CRS score when FSW and CEC Express Entry draws resume
When Express Entry draws for FSW and CEC resume in July 2022, the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score cut-off will almost certainly be higher than 500 points. It is expected to remain high during the initial draws, but to drop to pre-pandemic levels once regular draws are implemented.
Because regular draws have been halted, the Express Entry pool of candidates has grown to its largest size ever. Indeed, the pool surpassed 200,000 candidates earlier this month for the first time since Express Entry was introduced in 2015.
According to internal IRCC memos, when Express Entry draws for FSW and CEC candidates resume, the “minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score required to receive an invitation to apply would likely rise above 500 and remain high.” For comparison, prior to the pandemic adversely affecting FSW and CEC draws in 2019, the CRS score cut-off ranged between 438 and 475 points.
It is impossible to predict how high the CRS score cut-off will be and how long it will remain high. The CRS score cut-off is determined by several factors, including the number of candidates in the pool, the frequency of draws, and the number of invitations issued in each draw.
Only after the Express Entry draw resumes, we will have a better idea of what to expect for the rest of 2022.
Candidates from within Canada will be subject to further measures.
For certain candidates who are already in Canada and whose status is about to expire, Canada will implement a few specific immigration processes.
International graduates in Canada with temporary status that is about to expire will be able to take advantage of a new temporary public policy that will allow them to stay longer. Recent overseas graduates in Canada who have a post-graduation work visa expiring between January and December 2022 will be eligible for an additional open work permit of up to 18 months beginning in summer 2022.
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