Statistics Canada says that Canada’s population has exceeded 37 million in the first four months of this year. It took two years and two months for the Canadian population to rise from 36 million to 37 million. Immigration is the main source for that increase since most of the newcomers arrive in Canada through the Federal Express Entry system. The first half of 2018 is almost over, and it is a good time to sum-up and analyze the Express Entry trends.
In October 2017, Canada announced the plans to gradually increase the number of immigrants from 300,000 in 2018 to 340,000 in 2020. As for the Express Entry, the Government’s target for 2018 was 74,900 admissions through the three economic immigration classes — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Federal Skilled Trades Class, and the Canadian Experience Class.
Since the beginning of 2018, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held 13 Express Entry draws among which (on May 30) there was only one designed for specific Provincial Programs and the Federal Skilled Trades Class, during which 700 invitations to apply were issued. Meanwhile, the other 12 draws show the execution of the declared goals. For instance, in January, in each draw, there were 2,750 ITAs issued. The number was increased to 3,000 during February and March. In April it reached 3,500 ITAs per draw, and finally, in June 3,750 ITAs have been issued. (See the graph below)
Today, on June 25th, 2018, Canada has issued ITAs to 3,750 Express Entry candidates in a new draw. The cut-off Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score was 442. The large draw size combined with the relatively short duration between draws contributed to the score going down by nine points from the previous cut-off score of 451 in the invitation round on June 20th. The average score to get an ITA remains in the range between 440 to 450 CRS.
39,700 ITAs were issued as of this moment, meaning that another 40,000 candidates can expect to be invited to immigrate to Canada by the end of 2018.
