IRCC invites 1,800 candidates in third Express Entry draw this week

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has issued invitations to apply (ITAs) in the third Express Entry draw this week.

The department issued 1.800 ITAs in a category-based selection draw for candidates with French language proficiency.

Candidates required a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 400 to be considered.

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Today's minimum CRS score represent's the one of the lowest scores of the year for any Express Entry draw. Yesterday's program-specific draw for 6,300 Canadian Experience Class candidates also had the lowest score of any non-category based selection draw at 515.

Earlier this week IRCC also invited 1,391 candidates in a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)-only draw with a minimum CRS of 670. Before that, IRCC most recently invited 3,200 candidates in a category-based selected draw for French proficiency on July 8.

CRS scores for PNP-only Express Entry draws tend to be higher than average because Express Entry candidates who have been successfully nominated for the PNP automatically receive an additional 600 CRS points on top of their existing score. For example, an Express Entry candidate with a score of 300 that is successfully nominated will then have an overall CRS of 900.

So far this month IRCC has issued 19,161 ITAs over seven seperate draws. This has been the busiest month for Express Entry this year.

Summary of Express Entry draw results in 2024

Date	Draw Type	Number of ITAs	Minimum CRS
December 16	Provincial Nominee Program	1,085	727
December 3	French language proficiency	800	466
December 2	Provincial Nominee Program	676	705
November 20	Healthcare occupations	3,000	463
November 19	Canadian Experience Class	400	539
November 18	Provincial Nominee Program	174	816
November 15	French language proficiency	800	478
November 13	Canadian Experience Class	400	547
November 12	Provincial Nominee Program	733	812
October 23	Trade occupations	1,800	433
October 22	Canadian Experience Class	400	539
October 21	Provincial Nominee Program	648	791
October 10	French language proficiency	1,000	444
October 9	Canadian Experience Class	500	539
October 7	Provincial Nominee Program	1,613	743
September 19	Canadian Experience Class	4,000	509
September 13	French language proficiency	1,000	446
September 9	Provincial Nominee Program	911	732
August 27	Canadian Experience Class	3,300	507
August 26	Provincial Nominee Program	1,121	694
August 15	French language proficiency	2,000	394
August 14	Canadian Experience Class	3,200	509
August 13	Provincial Nominee Program	763	690
July 31	Canadian Experience Class	5,000	510
July 30	Provincial Nominee Program	964	686
July 18	French language proficiency	1,800	400
July 17	Canadian Experience Class	6,300	515
July 16	Provincial Nominee Program	1,391	670
July 8	French proficiency	3,200	420
July 5	Healthcare occupations	3,750	445
July 4	Trade occupations	1,800	436
July 2	Provincial Nominee Program	920	739
June 19	Provincial Nominee Program	1,499	663
May 31	Canadian Experience Class	3,000	522
May 30	Provincial Nominee Program	2,985	676
April 24	French proficiency	1,400	410
April 23	General	2,095	529
April 11	STEM occupations	4,500	491
April 10	General	1,280	549
March 26	French language proficiency	1,500	388
March 25	General	1,980	524
March 13	Transport occupations	975	430
March 12	General	2,850	525
February 29	French language proficiency	2,500	336
February 28	General	1,470	534
February 16	Agriculture and agri-food occupations	150	437
February 14	Healthcare occupations	3,500	422
February 13	General	1,490	535
February 1	French language proficiency	7,000	365
January 31	General	730	541
January 23	General	1,040	543
January 10	General	1,510	546

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is an application management system for three economic immigration programs in Canada: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). Each program is a pathway to permanent residency in Canada.

These programs use the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to evaluate immigration candidates based on human capital factors such as occupation, age, education, language ability and work experience. Each factor receives a score, and the total creates a candidate’s CRS score.

The system was introduced in 2015 as a means for IRCC to speed up processing time for successful applicants. The department has a published service standard of six months for these applications.

What is category-based selection?

Category-based selection was launched in 2023 as a way for IRCC to further target the Express Entry candidates who are the most likely to help Canada fill urgent gaps in it’s workforce, or strengthen a demographic.

To that end, the department introduced six possible categories in 2023 and earlier this year announced that they would remain in place into 2025. They are: