Express Entry Spring 2017 Changes

On June 6, 2017, amendments to the Ministerial Instructions Respecting the Express Entry System will come into effect which improves the chances for bilingual applicants and applicants with Canadian family members to receive Invitations to Apply for permanent residency.

Applicants who achieve Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) level 7 in all four French language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) scores of 5 or higher in all four English language skills will receive an additional 30 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points.

If applicants or their accompanying spouse or common-law partner have siblings who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, who are currently living in Canada and at least 18 years old, they will receive 15 extra CRS points.

In the latest round of invitation, 3,877 applicants were invited to apply for permanent residency with the lowest-ranked candidate having a CRS score of 413 points. Historical data released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada suggests that the lowest accepted CRS score will likely remain fairly constant.

Given that there are over 25,000 applicants currently in the Express Entry Pool with CRS scores between 351 and 410, these modest changes to the Express Entry System should lead to a number of applications being pushed over the threshold.

The online Express Entry System will automatically update the CRS score for applicants with profiles in the Express Entry Pool.

For more information about the changes to Express Entry or any other immigration issue, please feel free to contact our office at any time.