Canada's 4th Express Entry of this Week invited 400 Candidates

Canada’s 4th Express Entry of this Week. IRCC held another Express Entry Draw on the fourth consecutive day. The draw was a category-based Express Entry draw for Agricultur and agri-food occupations. IRCC, Canada’s immigration department, issued 400 invitations to apply (ITAs) to individuals with work experience in Agriculture related occupations. To qualify for this draw, Candidates needed a minimum score of 386.

Canada’s 4th Express Entry of this Week & Results of three of previous draws

Canada’s 4th Express Entry of this week comes after the three most recent Express Entry draws, targetting candidates from different sectors.

IRCC held the first draw of this week on December 18, which was an all-program draw. A total of 1,325 candidates who had a CRS score of 542 received the ITAs.

The next day, December 19, the second draw of this week, took place for candidates who had work experience in trade occupations. 1000 candidates with a minimum score of 425 were invited to apply.

December 20 witnessed the week’s third draw in which IRCC issued 670 Invitations to apply (ITAs). Candidates who had work experience in transport occupations and a minimum CRS score of 435 were eligible to receive an ITA.

Outline of Previous Express Entry Draws

Before this week, IRCC also conducted three subsequent draws targeting different sectors on December 6, 7, and 8.

On December 8, IRCC issued 5,900 candidates from STEM occupations. Candidates needed a minimum score of 481.

Another category-based draw occurred on December 7 for candidates with French language proficiency. A total of 1000 candidates with a minimum CRS score of 470 received an invitation to apply.

On December 6, there was also an all-program draw for 4,750 candidates. Candidates with a minimum CRS score of 561 were sent invitations to apply (ITA) in this draw. These Express Entry draws resumed after a month.

There was a category-based selection draw on October 26 for candidates with work experience in the healthcare sector.

What was the cause of the suspension of the Express Entry Draw?

The cause of the delay in the Express Entry draw remains unclear as IRCC did not confirm the reason.

However, the department announced on Twitter that candidates who were trying to upload their final application to IRCC’s website were having difficulty. This was due to an IT issue with the Express Entry profile builder.

The department again retweeted after two days that the issue had been resolved. However, the draws didn’t resume immediately as expected.

There are various reasons that may cause IRCC to suspend Express Entry. For instance, staffing changes, IT problems, changes to CRS, and more. In addition, if IRCC is already set to achieve its immigration targets under Express Entry determined in the Immigration Levels Plan, it may also delay the draws.

Express Draws and Category Based Draws

Canada introduced the category-based selection draws under the Express Entry system this May to invite candidates from in-demand sectors to address the market demands and strengthen the country’s economy.

Six categories were selected for 2023 category-based draws, which are as follows: