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

The department invited 2,000 candidates in a category-based selection draw for candidates with French language proficiency.

To be considered, candidates required a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 394.

This is the third draw this week and follows a program-specific draw for 3,200 Canadian Experience Class candidates on August 14.

An August 13 draw saw 763 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates receive ITAs. They needed a minimum CRS score of 690.

This week’s draws follow an unprecedented number of Express Entry draws throughout July. IRCC issued over 25,000 ITAs to candidates in nine separate draws.

This means that July had the most Express Entry draws of any month since the system was launched in 2015. It marks a significant comeback from a slow June that saw only one.

Four of the July draws were category-based selection draws and of those, two were for candidates who met the criteria for French language proficiency. The July 18 draw for this category featured the lowest CRS score of the month (400).

The other two  category-based draws issued ITAs to candidates in healthcare occupations and trade occupations.

Among the remaining five draws, two were program-specific for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and three were for candidates who were also in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). The highest CRS score of the month was for PNP candidates on July 2 (739).

The number of program-specific draws after a year of only category-based selection and general draws shows that IRCC is delivering on its goal to hold more domestic draws for permanent residency candidates already living in Canada. This is part of the department’s announcement that it will work to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada, while also striving to hit its target for permanent resident admissions.

Summary of Express Entry draw results in 2024

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is an application management system introduced by IRCC in 2015 to help select economic immigration candidates who are most likely to integrate into Canada’s economy and workforce successfully.

It uses the Comprehensive Ranking System to manage applications from three programs; the CEC, the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

The system evaluates and ranks candidates based on human capital factors such as their age, occupation, education, language ability and work experience. Each factor is assigned a score, and the sum is a candidate’s overall CRS score. Those with the highest scores are the most likely to receive an invitation to apply for permanent residency.

What is category-based selection?

Category-based selection rounds of invitations were introduced in May 2023 as a means for IRCC to further target the Express Entry candidates that are likely to either fill an urgent need in the workforce or to help the department reach a demographic target.

IRCC says the department decided on the six categories following months of consultations with relevant stakeholders. Categories include:

• 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

The recently released Express Entry year-end report for 2023 found that candidates in the STEM category received the most ITAs throughout the year (32,111) followed by French-language candidates (15,812).

However, according to an Access to Information Request shared with CIC News earlier this year, it is expected that candidates in the French-speaking category will receive the highest number of ITAs in 2024.