On 13 May 2020, Canada issued 529 Express Entry applicants to apply for permanent residence. So far this year, Canada has invited 34,829 immigration applicants. Current cut off score was 718 as only candidates who had been nominated by a Provincial Nominee Program were invited. Time and date of the Tiebreak rule applied in this draw is March 19, 2020, at 12:53:21 UTC.
This means that, in this invitation round, all candidates with a CRS score 718 and above as well as who submitted their profile before that date and time earned an ITA.
Last express entry draw was specific to Canadian Experience Class with a cut-off score of 452 which had the lowest CRS score requirement so far this year.
That is how IRCC has been conducting Express Entry rounds since Canada closed its borders on March 18, in an attempt to contain coronavirus spread. However, in 2020 more ITAs have been issued than in 2019 and 2018 at the same time.
The level of Express Entry draws has also increased since the implementation of special coronavirus steps. There were regular express entry draws every fortnight at the beginning of the year on Wednesdays and CRS cut off scores hovered around 470s.
Then on March 18, when travel restrictions came into force, the year's first PNP-specific Express Entry draw was held, and the first CEC draw of the year was just five days later. The frequency of draws has since become somewhat more erratic.
Canada is also on track to meet its Express Entry goal of 85,800 ITAs in 2020, with 34,829 ITAs so far, compared with 31,250 in 2019 at this time.
