Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has conducted its third Express Entry draw this week. This marks the first time IRCC has conducted three draws in a single week since December 2023. This article will detail the results of this latest Express Entry draw, which took place on February 16, 2024.

In the department's third Express Entry draw this week, IRCC has issued 150 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in a category-based Express Entry draw for eligible candidates with work experience in Agriculture/Agri-Food occupations. This marks IRCC's first Agriculture/Agri-Food draw since December 21, 2023. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score held by those who received an ITA in today's draw was 437.

Today's draw follows two other draws that IRCC conducted this week. The results of those draws are as follows: 

February 14: Healthcare category-based draw where IRCC issued 3,500 ITAs to eligible candidates with a 422 minimum CRS

February 13: All-program draw where IRCC issued 1,490 ITAs to eligible candidates with a minimum CRS score of 535

Express Entry

Express Entry is IRCC's application management system, which the federal government uses to manage immigration applications from three economic-class immigration programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Standard Express Entry Draws

Before the introduction of a new draw type in May 2023 (more on those later), IRCC only conducted "standard" Express Entry draws. These draws ranked eligible candidates based on their CRS scores, the name given to IRCC's measure that assigned a number to each Express Entry candidate based on a variety of human capital factors. This score is used, in the context of standard draws, to determine who will receive an ITA in a given Express Entry draw.

Pursuing permanent residence through Express Entry's standard draws requires candidates to follow these general steps: 

1. Self-assess eligibility for any of the Express Entry-managed programs: the FSTP, the FSWP and/or the CEC
2. If eligible, create an Express Entry profile online with IRCC
3. Formally enter the candidate "pool", at which time candidates will receive their CRS score 
4. Wait for IRCC's next Express Entry draw to see if you receive an ITA*

Note: During each draw, ITAs are only given to eligible candidates with CRS scores above the cut-off score for that specific Express Entry draw. It is important to know that ITAs are the only way that Canadian immigration candidates can apply for permanent residence.

Category-Based Express Entry Draws

First conducted in June 2023, IRCC introduced a new type of draw called category-based selection draws in the middle of last year. Category-based draws, rather than prioritizing a candidate's CRS score, focused on helping the Canadian government address specific labour market challenges by bringing in more foreign skilled workers but focusing on immigration candidates with work experience or proficiencies in certain areas. 

In 2023, these six categories have been designated as areas of focus* for IRCC's category-based draws:

1. Immigration candidates with work experience in: 

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

2. Immigration candidates with strong French language proficiency

*IRCC has noted that it is allowing itself the room to conduct an annual review of these categories and adjust accordingly if required.

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