On January 6, 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted the first Express Entry invitation round in 2021. In draw #171, the Immigration Department issued Invitations to Apply (ITA) to 250 candidates under the Provincial Nominee Program. The cut-off score in this round was 813 points. The last PNP-specific draw occurred on August 19, 2020 and the lowest score was 771. Since September 2, IRCC returned to all-program draws. The tie-breaking rule for this round was November 2, 2020 at 11:11:52 UTC. As of January 4, 2021, there are 146,495 profiles registered in the pool, 992 profiles less compared to the previous update. Last year, Canada invited 107,350 candidates to apply for permanent residence through the Express Entry.