500 Federal Skilled Trades Class candidates  with Comprehensive Ranking Scores as low as 357 are invited to apply for Canadian  Permanent Residence  in a new Express Entry draw held October 16 by the government of Canada.

This was the second express entry draw of 2019 to target applicants in the Federal Skilled Trades Class, which is open to foreign nationals with a certificate of qualification that proves they are qualified to work in an eligible skilled trade in Canada OR have an eligible offer of employment in Canada, among other criteria.

There are three Federal High Skilled migration programs managed by the Express Entry System

• The Federal Skilled Trades Class
• The Federal Skilled Worker Class and,
• The Canadian Experience Class.

Most of Express Entry draws involve candidates from all three classes and today’s draw was one of the rare exceptions to this rule. The last Express Entry draw held October 2 was an all-program draw that gave 3,900 solicitations to apply (ITAs).

They give all qualified Express Entry competitors a score under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS)

Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) ranks eligible candidates for immigration to Canada through Express Entry under the following components:

• core human capital factors;
• skill transferability factors; and
• additional factors relating to a provincial nomination, a qualifying offer of arranged employment, Canadian study experience, a sibling in Canada, and/or French language ability.

Niche draws for a specific cohort like Federal Skilled Trades Class candidates can produce lower cut-off scores than the all-program invitation rounds, which draw from the entire Express Entry pool and result in higher cut-off scores. This cut-off score of 357 was 81 points lower than the lowest cut-off score this year in an all-program Express Entry draw, which was 438.

The tie-break used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the October 16 draw was March 4, 2019, at 20:36:42 UTC. This implies all Federal Skilled Trades Class up-and-comers with a CRS score over 357, just as those with scores of 357 who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before this date and time, got an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian lasting living arrangement. Express Entry candidates with lower CRS scores may receive an ITA, today’s draw is a reminder of the various ways.

They give an additional 600 CRS points to Express Entry candidates with a provincial nomination and are effectively guaranteed an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Alberta selected Express Entry candidates with scores as low as 400 in its latest draw. Previous draws through the Alberta Express Entry Stream have selected candidates with CRS scores as low as 300.

Manitoba and British Columbia both do not consider a candidate’s CRS score and use their own unique points system instead. Manitoba and British Columbia both held draws in the past week.

The initial step is to submit an Express Entry profile to be considered for a nomination through most Express Entry-aligned provincial streams.