Today, a general (all program) Express Entry draw sent out 1,325 invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residency (PR).
The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score drops by 19 points as compared to the previous similar Express Entry draw on December 6th.
This is the fourth Express Entry round of invitations for December, after a pause in the month of November 2023.
Summary of the Express Entry draw today
- Number of invitations issued: 1,325
- Rank required to be invited to apply: 1,325 or above
- Date and time of round: December 18, 2023 at 16:12:22 UTC
- CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited: 542
- Tie-breaking rule: November 06, 2023 at 14:40:23 UTC
CRS Score Comparison In The Pool – December 18
CRS score range | Number of candidates |
601-1200 | 1,011 |
501-600 | 4,433 |
451-500 | 56,223 |
491-500 | 5,140 |
481-490 | 8,041 |
471-480 | 17,221 |
461-470 | 14,219 |
451-460 | 11,602 |
401-450 | 53,698 |
441-450 | 10,946 |
431-440 | 11,144 |
421-430 | 10,055 |
411-420 | 10,606 |
401-410 | 10,947 |
351-400 | 58,033 |
301-350 | 29,955 |
0-300 | 5,285 |
Total | 208,638 |
Resumption of Express Entry Draws
IRCC usually announces Express Entry draws on a biweekly basis but didn’t hold any rounds of invitations for 5 weeks between October 26 and December 5.
However, IRCC conducted three back-to-back draws between December 6th and 8th, inviting 11,650 profiles to apply for permanent residency and now the fourth one is being held this week.
This is a sigh of relief for Express Entry candidates in the pool but the CRS cutoff score is still high.
It is just the beginning of this week and we can expect more targeted rounds of invitations this week since the number of invitations was low in the Express Entry draw today.
A total of 12,975 ITAs have been issued since December 6 in 4 Express Entry draws, as listed below:
Description | December 18 | December 8 | December 7 | December 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Draw type | General or all program draws | Targeting 24 STEM occupations | French focused | General or all program draws |
Invitations | 1,325 | 5,900 | 1,000 | 4,750 |
CRS Cutoff | 542 | 481 | 470 | 561 |
Tie-breaking rule | November 06, 2023 at 14:40:23 UTC | November 25, 2023 at 09:48:36 UTC | October 3, 2023, at 04:45:27 UTC | November 8, 2023, at 06:00:13 UTC |
Overall, a total of 108,196 ITAs have been sent in 39 Express Entry draws so far this year.
Summary of the latest Express Entry draws since December 18
On December 18, only 1,325 people with a CRS score of 542 or higher were invited by the IRCC Express Entry draw for all programs.
On December 8, 2023 the IRCC announced a STEM targeted draw issuing 5,900 invitations to apply for permanent residency. The minimum CRS score was 481.
On December 7, 2023, there was a focused Express Entry draw for Francophones sending out 1,000 ITAs for permanent residency. The cutoff score for CRS was 470.
On December 6, 2023 4,750 invitations to apply were issued in a general draw with a CRS score of 561 or higher.
What are the category-based Express Entry draws in 2023?
IRCC is primarily targeting 82 occupations in Express Entry draws in 2023 from one of the shortlisted priority sectors, as listed below:
Healthcare Occupations
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations
Trade occupations
Transport occupations
Agriculture and agri-food occupations