2023 Express Entry year in review

2023 Express Entry year in review

2023 Express Entry has bought significant changes to Canada’s Express Entry application management system.

In the first half of 2023, Express Entry continued with many of the patterns established in 2022 following the resumption of Express Entry draws after an 18-months pause. Draws were either all-program, Provincial Nominee Program only or, in one instance, Federal Skilled Workers only.

Draws typically took place every two weeks, but sometimes occurred more frequently. Of note, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited over 21,000 Express Entry candidates throughout four draws in March 2023. The second-highest number of Express Entry candidates ever invited in a month.

Category-based selection rounds of invitations

In May, IRCC introduced six new categories for Express Entry draws. This was expected following a change to the Immigrant and Refugees Protection Act (IRPA) in June 2022 that grants the immigration minister the authority to issue ITAs to candidates who have specific attributes, rather than an overall high CRS score.

The new categories target candidates who have attributes that help IRCC meet its mandates to promote French outside of Quebec and use immigration to strengthen Canada’s labour force and economy. The categories are:

•  Healthcare
• Science, Technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions
• Trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors
• Transport
• Agriculture and agri-food
• Strong French proficiency

The first category-based took place on June 28 and invited 500 healthcare professionals to apply. Since then, IRCC has invited more than 16,000 Express Entry candidates through category-based selection.

Draw Types

Of the 42 draws in 2023Express Entry, the majority were all-program draws that considered candidates from the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program and Canadian Experience Class. However, IRCC did not issue any ITAs to FSTP candidates in 2023 Express Entry.

In total, 19 Express Entry draws were all-program, 5 were PNP-only, one was FSWP-only and the remaining 17 were category-based selection draws.

CRS scores

Recent data from IRCC shows that most Express Entry candidates who received an ITA between January and September 2023 had a CRS score between 451-500 (26,070) and 11,640 had scores ranging from 501-600.

Another 12,590 had CRS scores between 900 and 1,200 (the maximum possible score). These were most likely candidates who had received a nomination through the PNP, which adds 600 CRS points to an existing CRS score.

Based on draw type, the lowest CRS for an all-program draw was 481 on March 29 when 7,000 candidates received ITAs. The highest was 561 on December 6 when 4,750 all-program candidates received ITAs.

Among candidates who received ITAs in draws for Provincial Nominee Program-only draws. The highest CRS score was 791 on February 15 in a draw for 699 candidates. The lowest was 691 on May 10 in a draw for 589 PNP candidates.

There was one draw from Federal Skilled Workers with a CRS of at lest 489 on February 2 for 3,300 candidates.

Among category-based selection rounds of invitations, the lowest score was for candidates in the only draw for agriculture and agri-food occupations with a score of 354 on September 28. IRCC invited 600 candidates to apply. 

The highest score this year for a category-based occurred twice. On July,5 500 candidates in STEM occupations with a minimum score of 486 received ITAs. In October 25, 300 French-language proficiency candidates received ITAs in a draw with the same minimum score.

Frequency of draws

Between January and June, Express Entry draws regularly took place every two weeks, and sometimes every week.

Following the introduction of category-based selection draws, it becomes more difficult to predict when IRCC would issue ITAs. However, ministerial instructions shows that since July, there has been a trend towards one week each month in which three or four separate Express Entry draws between Tuesday and Thursday.

The highest volume of draws was in December when there were seven draws between December 6-21. The second highest volume was in five draws from July 4 to 12k. September also saw five draws over two weeks and there were four draws in October. Again, three of them took place within one week.

Draws were paused between October 26 and December 6, IRCC did not confirm a reason but there are many possibilities such as an ongoing IT glitch, staffing issues or if the department had already reached the Express Entry targets outline for the year in the Immigration Level Plan.