Surprising Express Entry Draw Invites 27,000 New Permanent Residents

As Canada grapples with COVID-19, amidst new and more infectious variants entering the country, with no vaccine in sight for most of the population, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) made an unprecedented move towards the goal of 400,000 new permanent residents in 2021. On February 13, in the latest round of invitations issued to candidates in the Express Entry pool, 27,332 applicants were surprised with the highly coveted Invitation to Apply. To put this in perspective, a usual number of invitations ranges from 3,500-5,000 per draw. The cumulative score required for a successful candidate is usually somewhere in the high 400s. On February 13, the lowest-ranked candidate invited had a score of 75.