The State Of The Express Entry Pool: March 2024

March has marked another month of Express Entry draws as Canada’s immigration system continues to invite applicants to apply for permanent residence. Certain trends are continued through last month’s draws that might provide further understanding of how Express Entry might continue throughout the year. Here’s the state of the Express Entry pool as of March 2024.

How Does The Composition Of The Express Entry Applicant Pool Affect Score Cut-Offs & Draw Sizes? 

While it can be difficult to understand how the make up of the Express Entry pool impacts CRS score cut-offs & draw sizes, there are certain basic trends that can be observed.

Distribution Of Scores & CRS Cut-Offs 

The distribution of current scores within the Express Entry pool is one of the factors that might have an impact on the CRS score cut-offs of upcoming draws. 

CRS scores within the pool might help IRCC decide what the next appropriate cut-off score is for qualified applicants, & how large each draw should be. 

While there might be other factors in the decision-making procedure, CRS distribution within the pool might prove to be a contributing factor even in these instances, as it is a key to how well-adapted immigration applicants are within the pool. 

Category-Based Draws Also Affect This Distribution 

Along with standard CRS score-based draws, IRCC conducts category-based draws for Express Entry applicants. These draws target individuals with specific personal experience or language ability to meet labor market & demographic requirements in Canada. 

While these draws look beyond CRS scores, they still impact the score distribution in the Express Entry pool when they invite candidates. Therefore, paying attention to these draws in analysis might prove useful. 

What Express Entry Draws Took Place In March? 

In order to know the state of the Express Entry pool, one must know what draws took place in March. Well, March saw four Express Entry draws throughout the month. 

Two of these draws were general draws, which invited candidates from all three Express Entry-managed programs who met the needed CRS cut-off. Cut-off scores have stayed higher than last year. However, this is not uncommon towards the beginning of the year, with cut-offs lowering for general draws as the year progresses. 

The two other draws were category-based selections for transport professions & French language proficiency. This marked the first transport professions & the third French-language proficiency draw of the year. Thus far, the federal Express Entry system has been inviting French-speaking applicants to apply for PR at a faster rate than Quebec’s immigration system, with these draws featuring some of the lowest CRS score cut-offs in Express Entry history.

Here is a table showing further information regarding the draw: 

The Present State Of Express Entry Pool

The Express Entry applicant pool now has over 211,994 profiles, demonstrating a slight increase of over 700 profiles from the total number at the end of February. In addition, score distributions have been maintained at the same volume, with slight changes based on how many applicants entered within a specific score range. 

Here’s a table showcasing score distributions & number of people in the pool. 

These scores/ points have also been mapped out below to better visualize the pool. As we can see, the highest volume of scores sits between the 351-400 CRS points boundary.

What Percentile Is Your Score In The Pool? 

By taking the upper boundary of each score range, we can determine what percentile a score is in when compared to the rest of the scores in the Express Entry applicant pool. 

Percentiles demonstrate how a specific score compares against the total make-up of scores. For instance, if someone has a CRS score of 420, their percentile score is 52.07%. This shows that their score is higher than 52.07% of the total scores in the pool. 

Here is the complete breakdown of score percentiles below: