IRCC has invited over 700 applicants in the most recent Express Entry draw. It was an all-program draw & applicants required a minimum CRS score of 511. 

This draw comes as a surprise as IRCC has said that it will invite over 1,500 healthcare applicants via the category-based selection on July 5. In addition, it is expected that IRCC will also invite applicants with work experience in STEM professions in the first category-based draws. It remains to be witnessed what the minimum CRS score will be required for STEM & healthcare applicants.

On June 28, IRCC carried out the first-ever Express Entry category-based draw. Herein, over 500 healthcare applicants with a minimum CRS score of 476 were invited. On that same day, IRCC declared that it would be inviting STEM profession applicants in a category-based Express Entry round this week. 

The present CRS score of 511 is the highest seen in any all-program draw of 2023. It is significantly higher than it was in the previous all-program draw on June 27. Moreover, almost 4,300 applicants were invited with a minimum CRS score of 486. In addition, it is 35 points higher than the score of 476 needed in the category-based draw on June 28. 

 

Category-Based Draws 

Category-based draws are a kind of Express Entry draws wherein applicants are invited within particular fields or individuals having in-demand attributes/ characteristics. However, there are six new categories for which applicants might be eligible. 

  • Healthcare
  • STEM professions
  • Transport
  • Trade
  • Agriculture/ Agri-Food 
  • Strong French-language proficiency 

 

Category-based draws were possible because of the changes made in IRPA in June 2022. These changes gave the immigration minister the authority to invite economic immigrants based on particular characteristics that align with the economic priorities of Canada, thus promoting the French Language outside the province of Quebec. 

 

What Is Express Entry? 

Being an application management system, Express Entry is used by IRCC to select applicants for permanent residency, depending upon the CRS score. The CRS evaluates applicants based on attributes like profession, language ability, work experience, education, age, etc. 

In addition, when an eligible/ suitable Express Entry applicant uploads their profile to the IRCC website, they are assigned a CRS score based on these factors & ranked alongside other applicants. The applicants who have the highest scores are most likely to obtain an ITA, i.e., Invitation To Apply.  

Three programs are managed by Express Entry, i.e., FSTP, FSWP, & CEC. Each program’s eligibility requirements are different but evaluated using the same system