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How Much CRS Score Required for Canada?

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Canada Express Entry is an electronic system that manages applications submitted by skilled and qualified immigrants seeking permanent residency in Canada.

Applicants are ranked and invited to apply for permanent residency using a CRS scoring system. In this article, we’ll discuss CRS scores.

We’ll tackle all the key questions such as:

  • What is a CRS score?
  • How are the CRS scores calculated?
  • What CRS scores have been required in recent times?
  • What is the lowest ever CRS score for Canada Express Entry?
  • What is a good CRS score?

Let’s get started!

What is CRS?

CRS is short for Comprehensive Ranking System. It is the points system that is used to rank applicants seeking permanent residency via Canada Express Entry.

Canada Express Entry is the fastest way for skilled immigrants to gain permanent residency in Canada. Millions of skilled immigrants submit their profiles every year. Sadly, not everyone can be invited to apply for permanent residency.

CRS scores are used to rank the applicants in the pool. The higher your CRS score, the more likely you are to receive an ITA (invitation to apply) towards realizing your Canada dream.

How the CRS points are calculated

The highest number of CRS points that an applicant can have is 1,200. CRS points are awarded based on the applicant’s skills, experience, education, adaptability, and more.

CRS point = Core/ human capital factors + spouse factor + skill transferability factors + additional points

Core/ Human capital factors include

If a spouse is immigrating with you, the maximum points you can get from human capital factors is 460, but without a spouse, you can get up to 500 points.

These factors are (assuming with a spouse):

  • Age – up to 100 points
  • Education – up to 140 points
  • Official language proficiency – up to 128 points
  • Second language proficiency – up to 22 points
  • Canadian work experience – up to 70 points

Spouse Factors

If you are immigrating with your spouse or common-law partner, you can get additional 40 points.

  • Spouse’s education – up to 10 points
  • Spouse’s language proficiency – 20 points
  • Spouse’s Canadian work experience – 10 points

Skills Transferability Factors

This section measures your suitability based on the combination of your skills and qualification. 100 points are up for grabs.

  • Language skill + post-secondary education – up to 50 points
  • Canadian work experience + post-secondary education – up to 50 points

Additional points

There are ways to earn additional points. But sadly, the additional points each applicant can get are limited to 600 points.

  • A sibling living in Canada – 15 points
  • French language skill – 50 points
  • Post-secondary education in Canada – 30 points
  • Arranged employment in Canada – 200 points
  • Provincial nomination – 600 points

How many CRS points are required to get an ITA?

To get an ITA from an Express Entry draw, you need CRS points equal to or greater than the CRS cut-off points for that draw.

The CRS cut-off varies from draw to draw, depending on the number of CRS points of applicants in the Express Entry pool and the number of skilled applicants wanted at the time. That is, if more people are needed, and/or the CRS points of applicants are generally low, expect the CRS cut-off to be low.

As can be seen from recent Express Entry draws, CRS points required for an ITA have ranged from an all-time low of 75 to 462 for the CEC program. While for the PNP program, it has ranged from 674 to 813.

Table 1: Summary of draws and CRS points requirement since 2021 till date (Feb. 22, 2022)

Year Program No. of draws Lowest CRS point Highest CRS point Average CRS point
2022 PNP 4 so far 674 808 735
2021 PNP 25 in total 682 813 738
CEC 17 in total 75 462 387

Table 2: Draws and CRS requirement since Jan 2021

Draw No. Date of Draw Program CRS cut-off No. of ITAs issued
#216 Feb 16, 2022 PNP 710 1,082
#215 Feb 2, 2022 PNP 674 1,070
#214 Jan 19, 2022 PNP 745 1,036
#213 Jan 5, 2022 PNP 808 392
#212 Dec 22, 2021 PNP 720 746
#211 Dec 10, 2021 PNP 698 1,032
#210 Nov 24, 2021 PNP 737 613
#209 Nov 10, 2021 PNP 685 775
#208 Oct 27, 2021 PNP 744 888
#207 Oct 13, 2021 PNP 720 681
#206 Sept 29, 2021 PNP 742 761
#205 Sept 15, 2021 PNP 732 521
#204 Sept 14, 2021 CEC 462 2,000
#203 Sept 1, 2021 PNP 764 635
#202 Aug 19, 2021 CEC 403 3,000
#201 Aug 18, 2021 PNP 751 463
#200 Aug 5, 2021 CEC 404 3,000
#199 Aug 4, 2021 PNP 760 512
#198 Jul 22, 2021 CEC 357 4500
#197 Jul 21, 2021 PNP 734 462
#196 Jul 8, 2021 CEC 369 4500
#195 Jul 7, 2021 PNP 760 627
#194 Jun 24, 2021 CEC 357 6000
#193 Jun 23, 2021 PNP 742 1002
#192 Jun 10, 2021 CEC 368 6000
#191 Jun 9, 2021 PNP 711 940
#190 May 31, 2021 CEC 380 5956
#189 May 26, 2021 PNP 731 500
#188 May 20, 2021 CEC 397 1842
#187 May 13, 2021 CEC 401 4147
#186 May 12, 2021 PNP 752 557
#185 Apr 29, 2021 CEC 400 6000
#184 Apr 28, 2021 PNP 717 381
#183 Apr 16, 2021 CEC 417 6000
#182 Apr 14, 2021 PNP 753 266
#181 Apr 1, 2021 CEC 432 5000
#180 Mar 31,2021 PNP 778 284
#179 Mar 18. 2021 CEC 449 5000
#178 Mar 17, 2021 PNP 682 183
#177 Mar 08, 2021 PNP 739 671
#176 Feb 13, 2021 CEC 75 27,332
#175 Feb 10, 2021 PNP 720 654
#174 Jan 21, 2021 CEC 434 4626
#173 Jan 20, 2021 PNP 741 374
#172 Jan 7, 2021 CEC 461 4,750
#171 Jan 6, 2021 PNP 813 250

CRS Score FAQs

Why are the CRS cut-off for the PNP programs very high?

The PNP program is one way that the Canadian government allows applicants to boost their CS scores. Provincial nomination gets you additional 600 points.

So, if you have a low CRS score of 200 (which is highly unlikely to get you an ITA), using the provincial nomination program will give you additional 600 points. This takes your points tally to a very handsome 800 (which all but guarantees you an ITA).

Because of the big points-boost that the provincial nominations give, the CRS cut-off for the PNP program is usually significantly higher than those of other programs.

What is a good CRS score for Canada Express Entry

Since the CRS cut-off for the PNP program is usually higher than those of other programs, what makes a good CRS score depends on the program you are applying for.

That said, we’ll define a good CRS score as one that’ll get you an ITA at least 80% of the time.

Looking at the draws from the beginning of 2021 till date, a good Canada Express Entry CRS score is 450; but if using provincial nomination, a good CRS score is 760.

17 non-PNP draws that have been done since the beginning of 2021, and only two times (#204 and #172) have the CRS cut-off been more than 450. So, a CRS score of 450 will have been good enough to get you an ITA 88% of the time.

Also, 29 PNP draws have been made since 2021, and only four times (#213, #203, #180, and #171) have the CRS cut-off been more than 760. So, a score of 760 will have been good enough to get you an ITA 86% of the time.

What is the lowest CRS cut-off score ever recorded?

The lowest ever recorded CRS cut-off score was 75. This came from the draw of February 13, 2021, which saw 27,332 CEC applicants given ITAs. Before that draw, the lowest CRS cut-off point ever was 199 points, which came from the May 16, 2017 draw.

However, these draws should be taken as an anomaly. A CRS point of 0 – 300 is not likely to be enough for an ITA anytime soon.

This is because, according to the IRCC CRS score distribution of candidates (as of writing), there are 198,061 candidates in the pool, and only 5,736 of these have scores in the range of 0 – 300. So, for any CRS score less than 300 to fetch an ITA now, Canada will be inviting over 192,325 candidates to apply for permanent residency. That is highly unlikely.

Final Thoughts

The Canada Express Entry CRS cut-off requirement varies from draw to draw. However, looking at draws in recent times, a good CRS score is 450. But when using provincial nomination, a good CRS score is 760.

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