Canada issues record 7,000 invitations in a single Express Entry draw in 2023. Check CRS score and other details

Canada's Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the seventh Express Entry draw of 2023, which was held late last week, issued as many as 7,000 invitations to apply (ITAs), an all-time high number in a single draw. This draw has surpassed the previous record of 5,500 candidates invited in the last all-program draw held on January 18, 2023.

The all-program draws consider candidates from all three Express Entry programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score in this draw was 490.  

Apart from issuing record number of ITAs, this draw breaks the trend of program-specific draws that have been taking place over the past two months. Since the last all-program draw, there have been four program-specific rounds of invitations, with three for PNP-only and one for FSWP candidates. The latest draw was PNP-only, and only 697 candidates received ITAs on March 1, 2023.

Before 2023, all Express Entry draws held between July and November 2022 were all-program draws that invited over 1,000 candidates each time, and as the minimum CRS score decreased, the number of invitations grew.

IRCC has also released a report summarizing the Express Entry data for 2021, which was a unique year in the program's history. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all-program draws were paused starting in December 2020 to ease the backlog caused by travel restrictions and border closures. From December 2020 to September 2021, IRCC continued to issue ITAs to candidates in the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). In 2021, there were no all-program Express Entry draws, and all 42 draws were program-specific for the PNP and the CEC, with no ITAs issued to FSWP or FSTP candidates.

Of the 114,431 ITAs issued in 2021, 64% were issued to candidates between the ages of 20-29 years, who receive 100 CRS points under the Comprehensive Ranking System. Candidates receive fewer points after they turn 30. While most ITAs were issued to candidates who were already living in Canada as temporary residents, there were still some ITAs issued to candidates living abroad.