Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has issued 1,499 invitations to apply (ITAs) in the latest Express Entry draw.
IRCC issued the invitations in a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)-only draw, meaning that all the ITA recipients were PNP candidates.
Candidates needed a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 663 to be invited in this iteration of IRCC’s periodic invitation rounds.
Following this latest invitation round, Canada has now issued 43,454 ITAs to Express Entry candidates across 20 draws held in 2024.
Express Entry invitation rounds can be of different types, such as General draws or Category-based draws.
Category-based selection rounds were introduced in May 2023 by IRCC to help identify and invite candidates with the attributes to impact Canada’s labour force and economy positively.
There are six categories that are considered for category-based selection rounds. Five of these categories are occupation-based, and the other one targets candidates who have a strong proficiency in the French language.
The five occupation-based categories are:
- Healthcare occupations
- Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions
- Trades occupations, such as carpenters, contractors and plumbers
- Transport occupations
- Agriculture and agri-food occupations
Express Entry
Express Entry is Canada’s application management system that oversees the three biggest economic immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
Candidates who submit their profiles to the Express Entry pool are awarded points based on various factors, such as age, education, work experience, and language proficiency.
The highest-scoring candidates are then invited to apply for Canadian immigration in periodic selection rounds conducted by IRCC.
