IRCC issues 911 invitations to apply in Express Entry draw for PNP candidates
In the most recent Express Entry lottery, Invitations to Apply (ITAs) have been released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Only candidates for the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) were eligible to receive 911 ITAs from the department. To be considered, candidates had to receive a minimum of 732 points on the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). Get a Free Express Entry Assessment The first drawing of the month is today, and it comes after a hectic summer. In 14 distinct Express Entry lotteries, the IRCC solicited candidates in July and August. More precisely, since the system’s debut in 2015, July has broken the record for the most drawings in a single month. Between July 2 and July 31, there were nine drawings. In the most recent Express Entry, which was held on August 27, 3,330 individuals received invites in a lottery that was limited to those enrolled in the Canadian Experience Class. IRCC has recently adopted a pattern of multiple draws every other week. They generally include at least one draw for PNP candidates. This is line with IRCC’s previously announced intention to hold more “domestic” draws to ensure that temporary residents in Canada have increased opportunity to become permanent residents and to reduce the volume of temporary residents entering Canada. Summary of Express Entry draw results in 2024 Date Draw Type Number of ITAs Minimum CRS 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 that was introduced by IRCC in 2015 to help the department select economic immigration candidates with in-demand human capital attributes. It oversees three economic immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. The Comprehensive Ranking System is the cornerstone of the system. It assigns a point score to applicants for several attributes such as their language ability, work experience, education, occupation and age. Taken together, these points make up a candidate’s overall score. Those with the highest scores are the most likely to recieve an ITA. Candidates in these programs can also apply for streams of the Provincial Nominee Program that are aligned with Express Entry, a process known as enhanced nomination. Express Entry candidates who are nominated through a PNP automatically recieve an additioanl 600 CRS points, making it extremely likely they will recieve an ITA in an upcoming Express Entry draw, depending on the type of draw. IRCC also introduced category-based selection draws in 2023 to allow the department to target the candidates with more specific in-demand attributes, mostly based around work experience. Candidates who recieve ITAs in one of these draws are not required to be in any specific Express Entry program (although they must still be in the Express Entry application pool) and the minimum CRS required is generally lower than it would be for a program-specific or general draw. The six categories are: Healthcare occupations Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions Trades occupations, such as carpenters, plumbers, and contractors Transport occupations Agriculture and agri-food occupations French-language proficiency IRCC reviews these categories every year and says that as labour market priorities and demographic demands shift, the categories may change in coming years. Get a Free Express Entry Assessment