On June 3^rd, 2020 Ontario conducted a draw in its express entry linked Human Capital Priorities stream. In keeping with past practice, it has invited candidates with experience in certain occupations only. Unusually for the OINP they have issued invitations to two different groups of applicants in this draw – those with 1 year or more of Canadian work experience, and those with one year or more of foreign work experience.

Of interest are the different CRS score ranges for these two groups. 167 workers with experience in Canada were invited, and the lowest invited score was 358 – this is a very low score for success in the express entry system. 532 workers with only foreign experience were invited and the lowest invited score was 471 – this is a very high score to achieve.

These results clearly indicate the change in the Federal express entry pool since the outbreak of COVID-19. The Federal government has ceased conducting draws for those without Canadian experience or provincial nomination and has been making up its invitation target by accepting more – and therefore lower-scoring – candidates with Canadian experience. As a result, the CRS score required for those with Canadian experience is very low, and we can see that in the Ontario draw here. By contrast, the pool of high-scoring applicants without Canadian experience just keeps growing, since none of these candidates are being selected in federal draws – and even in a provincial nominee program draw like this one a very high score is needed for selection.