Express Entry: IRCC invites candidates in first June draw

IRCC has held its fourteenth Express Entry draw of 2023.

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited 4,800 candidates in an all-program draw.

Candidates required a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 486.

This was the first draw of June and follows the most recent draw on May 24 in which 4,800 candidates with a minimum CRS score of 488 were invited in an all-program draw. This score is higher than the April 26 all-program draw which had a minimum CRS score requirement of 483.

IRCC announces category-based selection draws expected to begin this summer

On May 31 IRCC issued a news release stating that the department has established six new category-based selection criteria for Express Entry candidates.

The new categories target candidates with specific attributes that support Canada's economic goals. Five are for those with work experience in the following fields:

healthcare
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions
trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors
transport
agriculture and agri-food

The final category is for candidates with strong French speaking abilities.

The department says it expects to begin holding category-based draws this summer but has not provided an exact date.

Those who hope to receive an ITA in the targeted draws must be candidates in Express Entry pool. IRCC says it will still rank Express Entry candidates who meet the category requirements and then issue ITAs to those with the highest scores.

IRCC will continue to hold all-program draws and program-specific draws as needed.

Express Entry in 2023

Excluding the current draw, IRCC has invited 49,948 candidates over 13 draws in 2023. This already significantly more candidates than were invited between July-November in 2022. IRCC did not hold any all-program draws until July 2022 following a pause related to the COVID-19 pandemic (31,000 candidates).

There were two Express Entry draws in May. The first took place on May 10 and was a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) only draw for 589 candidates. Those candidates were in the Express Entry pool but were also nominated by a provincial government.

The two draws in April were very similar. Both were all-program draws that invited 3,500 candidates. The April 12 draw required that candidates had a CRS score of 346 and a CRS score of 483 for the April 26 draw.

March was remarkable in the number of draws and number of candidates. There were four draws that invited a total of 21,677 candidates. Three of the four draws were all-program and invited 7,000 candidates each. The remaining draw of 667 candidates was PNP-only.

February also had four draws but each draw was program specific with three for PNP candidates and the fourth for candidates in the Federal Skilled Worker Program (the first such draw in Express Entry history). January had two all-program draws that invited 5,500 candidates each.

What is Express Entry?

The Express Entry application management system was established in 2015 to help IRCC target high-skilled economic immigration candidates for permanent residence.

The system uses the Comprehensive Ranking System to evaluate candidates from the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and the Canadian Experience Class. It considers a candidate's work experience, occupation, language ability, education, age and other transferable factors. The candidates who have the highest CRS score are the most likely to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence.

It is expected that later this year, IRCC will begin to move away from placing the most emphasis on a high CRS score and instead begin targeting candidates based on any specific attribute that is deemed to be in demand in Canada’s economy at the time.

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