The Government of Canada has set a new Express Entry record for the most invitations issued in a single year.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) broke the record with a draw held December 19 that issued 3,900 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for Canadian permanent residence.

The 3,900 ITAs brought the total number of invitations issued in 2018 to 89,800, which broke the previous record of 86,023 ITAs set in 2017.

IRCC applied the ‘tie-break’ rule for Express Entry candidates with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 439. This means ITAs will be issued to all candidates with scores above 439 as well as candidates with scores of 439 who submitted their Express Entry profiles before February 6, 2018, at 19:31:37 UTC

Foreign nationals must first meet the eligibility criteria for one of three economic immigration programs managed by the Express Entry system — the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC), Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Eligible candidates are then entered into the Express Entry pool and are assigned a CRS score out of 1,200 based on their characteristics, such as education, work experience and English or French language proficiency.

During periodic draws, IRCC invites the highest-ranking candidates from the pool.

Invited candidates have 60 days from the date of receiving their ITA to submit a complete Canadian permanent residence application to the Government of Canada.

For details on previous Express Entry draws, consult this table.

For further details on the December 19 draw, please read the latest article on CICNews.com.