Comparing Canada’s 2024 Express Entry Draws to 2023

So far in 2024, the Express Entry system has undergone significant adjustments. This is everything about Express Entry draws in 2024.

What is an “Express Entry Draw”?

An Express Entry draw is the procedure by which Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) selects profiles from the Express Entry pool and invites them to apply for Canadian permanent residency.

During an Express Entry draw, IRCC chooses individuals from the Express Entry pool based on their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and other criteria such as work experience or language competency. Those who meet or exceed the CRS score criteria for that specific draw receive Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residency.

How Do Express Entry Draws In 2024 Compare To 2023?

From normal updates with proof of funding criteria and Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s declared plan to hold additional ‘domestic draws’ for Express Entry candidates, to dramatically higher CRS scores and a month-long draw hiatus.

So, how does the issuing of ITAs compare in the first six months of 2024 to the first half of 2023? What does this tell us about how Express Entry will work for the remainder of 2024?

How Many ITAs were issued during the first six months of 2023?

In the first six months of 2023, IRCC conducted over 13 Express Entry lotteries, issuing 49,948 ITAs to immigration applicants.

Draw types were:

• General (which includes the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program).
• Provincial Nomination Program
• FSWP Specific

In 2023, IRCC also used the term ‘No program defined’ to refer to a generic draw.

How Many ITAs were issued during the first six months of 2024?

In the first six months of 2024, IRCC conducted 19 Express Entry draws and granted 41,855 ITAs to immigration applicants.

So far, there have been the following draw types:

• General
• French Language Proficiency
• Healthcare Professions
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Professions
• Transport Professions
• STEM Professions
• PNP
• CEC Specific

PNP: CEC-specific

Additional draw types for 2024 are the result of Express Entry category-based selections. This is a new strategy in the Express Entry system that allows applicants who qualify in one of the six categories to be asked to apply for Canadian permanent residency (PR) based on their results, with less emphasis on CRS scores in certain cases.

How Do ITA and Express Entry Draws in 2024 Compare to 2023?

Between 2023 and 2024, numerous noteworthy contrasts have appeared.

While 2023 saw fewer draws in the first six months, more ITAs were issued during the same period last year than in the first six months of 2024.

The increase in both the number of draws and the sorts of draws is most likely due to Canada’s new category-based selection draws, which began in the latter half of 2023.

These additional draw types may also have an impact on the cut-off scores and draw sizes of general draws by changing the composition of the Express Entry pool.

Filtering only general draws across the two years, we can find that the draw frequency, average CRS cut-off, and draw size of general draws in the first half of 2023:

• The frequency of general drawings in 2023 is: 8
• Average general draw size in 2023: 5475 ITAs issued.
• The average general draw cut-off score is 489.

These differ dramatically from the draw sizes and cut-off scores in the same six months of 2024.

• The frequency of general draws in 2024 is nine.
• In 2024, an average of 1605 ITAs were issued.
• The average general draw cut-off score is 536.

So, while Express Entry draws in 2023 were theoretically larger than those in the first half of 2024, the average draw size was smaller, with the department sending more than 7,000 invites in less time between January and June 2024. Furthermore, we can see that the average CRS score cut-off in 204 is nearly 50 points higher than the average for general draws during the same period in 2023.

What Can This Information Tell Us About How Express Entry Will Work for the Rest of 2024?

Express Entry draws in 2024 will require 7,000 fewer ITAs than the first six months of 2023.

This dynamic becomes more apparent when considering the Immigration Levels Plan, which IRCC announced the previous year. According to the plan, Express Entry will get 110,770 in 2024. This represents an almost 30,000 increase over the objective of 82,800 set for 2023.

Notably, these targets are for landings of immigrants, not ITAs.

Given the necessary processing and travel durations, IRCC most likely anticipates many arrivals arriving in Canada. For example, ITAs issued in the second half of 2023 are expected to cover landings in 2024. This, in turn, will count toward the landings target set by IRCC for the 2024 Immigration Levels Plan. IRCC’s published service standard for processing all Express Entry applications is six months.

In 2023, IRCC granted over 110,226 ITAs via the Express Entry mechanism to reach the level plan target. With a bigger level plan allocation this year, the immigration service may pursue more ITAs to satisfy larger immigration targets. This fact, combined with the fact that IRCC has issued 7,000 fewer ITAs this year than in 2023, may result in an Express Entry system that holds more frequent/larger draws for the remainder of 2024. However, this is only one conceivable conclusion.

This data may be relevant to ITAs. However, it is unclear how many ITAs IRCC will issue for the remainder of the year.

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