Rare Monday Express Entry draw drops CRS to 284 for Federal Skilled Trades candidates

Program-specific draw invites 400 FSTC candidates to apply for Canadian permanent residence

The Government of Canada has issued 400 invitations to Express Entry candidates in the Federal Skilled Trades Class in a rare Monday draw held September 24.

The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score for this draw was 284.

The tie-break date and time for this draw of February 18, 2018, at 12:31:16 UTC. This means that all Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) candidates with a score of 284 or above who submitted their Express Entry profile before this date and time were issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) in this draw.

Today’s draw was the 100th invitation round through the federal Express Entry system, which was introduced in January 2015 to manage applications to Canada’s three main economic immigration categories — the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class.

Candidates who received an ITA in today’s invitation round now have 60 days to submit a complete application for permanent residence to the Government of Canada.

Program-specific invitation rounds are exceptions to the norm for draws held through the Express Entry system, the vast majority of which include candidates from all federal economic immigration programs.

The last program-specific draw to target FSTC candidates was held on May 30, 2018, and saw a total of 500 FSTC candidates with CRS scores as low as 288 invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

The FSTC allows individuals with valid job offers or who are certified to work in certain occupations to obtain Canadian permanent residence.

Criteria for the FSTC include:

• At least two years of full-time work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) in a skilled trade within the last five years,
• Meet the job requirements for that skilled trade as set out in the National Occupational Classification, except for needing a certificate of qualification.
• Have a valid job offer of full-time employment for a total period of at least one year or a certificate of qualification in that skilled trade issued by a Canadian provincial, territorial or federal authority.

For the complete FSTC eligibility criteria, consult this dedicated page.

The following is a hypothetical example of a FSTC candidate who would have received in ITA in today’s draw:

Harry is 41 and has been working as an Industrial Electrician for seven years. Harry wrote the IELTS, and obtained a 6 in each category. Harry has a one year post-secondary credential, and has recently received a certificate of qualification to allow him to work in his trade in one of Canada’s provinces. While Harry has never worked or studied in Canada, his CRS of 285 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in the most recent Express Entry draw.