Congrats to all CEC Applicants!
For more than 27,000 applicants in Canada, they have been selected to apply through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) on 13 FEB 2021. As reported by IRCC, the minimum CRS score for this draw was only 75 points. Essentially, all candidates in the pool who had any merit to their application were selected and invited to apply for Permanent Resident status.
To qualify for the CEC category, applicants must demonstrate:
- minimum language skills established through either IELTS or CELPIP or TEF; and,
- at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada in the past 3 years.
There is no education requirement for the CEC Class. Basically, this category is designed for foreign workers in Canada who have been contributing to the Canadian economy. IELTS or CELPIP or TEF results are valid for 2 years only and they must be valid on the application date. 
This past draw is unprecedented. The minimum CRS score of 75 is extremely low and we cannot predict whether this type of draw may occur again in the future. To be clear, if your Express Entry profile is in the FSW stream, the FST stream, the PNP stream or any other path to Permanent Resident status, your profile will remain in the Express Entry system.
If you have been selected, we advise:
- You must act quickly to obtain all the required documents
- We expect significant delays at IRCC based on the large number of applicants
- We expect a bottleneck at the PR application stage and long processing times
The Liberal Government has previously announced its immigration target for more than 400,000 new Permanent Residents in 2021 and it is aiming to increase the number of immigrants in future years. With +27,000 Principal Applicants on track to submit PR applications on behalf of themselves and their families, the 13 FEB 2021 draw may lead to +100,000 new Permanent Residents in Canada.
This past CEC draw is a huge opportunity for many skilled workers in Canada. We urge all applicants to focus on gathering documents to establish the eligibility requirements. Any applicant who is inadmissible for any reason, including misrepresentation, criminality or any other reason may receive a Procedural Fairness Letter from IRCC to provide an explanation. If you are in this situation, we would advise you find a representative to help.
