Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued its latest round of Express Entry with new Invitations to Apply (ITAs). It has invited 400 applicants for the Canadian Experience Class this time with a minimum CRS score of 539.
This is the second Express Entry draw for this week while the previous one on 21 October invited 648 PNP candidates who had a minimum CRS score of 791 to qualify.
IRCC has, in recent months, conducted bi-weekly draws, although drawing mainly applicants under PNP and CEC. This reflects sustained, proactive efforts on the part of IRCC to prioritize applicants who are already inside Canada as temporary residents while minimizing that form of residency in reaching net new permanent resident levels proposed in the Immigration Levels Plan.
Canada’s new Immigration Levels Plan, for 2025 to 2027, is reported to be released before November 1, 2024. For 2024, the plan was intended to admit 110,770 permanent residents. It is unclear if this happened yet.
As processing for Express Entry takes about six months, applications from those individuals who received their ITA in the last half of the year are likely to be finalized next year, that is in 2025.
Express Entry Draws List of 2024
| Date | Draw Type | Number of ITAs | Minimum CRS |
| 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 that oversees applications for three of Canada’s major economic immigration programs: the FSWP, CEC, and FSTP.
The system has stratified people into the CRS to grade candidates based on different criteria such as age, educational background, language proficiency, working experience, and working profession. Each of the above factors is graded, and the overall score defines the ranking of the candidate.
Candidates that participate in PNP draws are generally coming in with a higher CRS, say; it will contribute 600 points to their overall score, aside from other factors that could see one scoring additional points like having a family member in Canada or being among applicants together with a spouse.