In the first draw of 2019, the Government of Canada kept its record mark of Invitations to Apply (ITA) issued. Altogether 3,900 Express Entry candidates were invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence, with the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 449. This draw held on January 10th also sets a new mark on Express Entry history: the highest number of ITA issued in the first draw of the year (see the chart below). It looks like IRCC is focused on its Annual Target for 2019 of issuing 81,400 ITA.

All candidates who submitted their profile before the tie-break January 10, 2019 at 12:20:46 UTC, with CRS score above 449 received and ITA in this invitation round.

The CRS score was 10 points higher than the previous round of invitation, although it is important to remember that there are several ways for candidates to improve their scores: one of them is including a provincial nomination that results in 600 additional CRS points. By the way, linking Express Entry and Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) have been extremely active and innovative last year.