In the recent Express Entry draw, conducted on August 3, 2022, Canada invited 2,000 candidates to apply for permanent residence. Express Entry is a popular immigration pathway to Canada for skilled workers.
Candidates who obtained scores of at least 533 on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) were sent these invites. Since this draw didn’t specify program, applicants from both the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) were eligible to get an invitation.
The draw’s minimum CRS requirement was nine points less than the previous draw held on July 20. In addition, 250 more applicants got invitations in this draw than in the previous one, in which 1,750 individuals received an Invitation to Apply (ITA).
A total of 5,250 ITAs have been issued to Express Entry applicants since the drawings commenced on July 6th across all programs. For almost 18 months, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stopped these drawings and only invited candidates who were eligible for permanent residence through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
It is expected that 55,900 permanent residents will be allowed to move to Canada through the Express Entry program in 2022. This number will then skyrocket to 111,500 by the end of 2024.
Expired PGWPs holders may now reapply for a new open work permit. Thousands of Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) holders saw their work permit status expire due to a halt in invitations to Express Entry CEC applicants between September 2021 and July 2022. Due to the lack of CEC invites, expired PGWP holders were ineligible to apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit while waiting for IRCC to finish their permanent residence application. The IRCC stated yesterday that expired PGWP holders would be eligible to extend their open work permit status for an extra 18 months. This program is meant to help these applicants transition to permanent residency by giving them the chance to work while they wait.
