In the new Express Entry draw, IRCC invites 893 PNP candidates.

Only PNP candidates were invited to the draw on February 1, 2023.

The IRCC has held its third Express Entry draw for the year 2023.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited 893 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 733 to become permanent residents.

Since July 2022, this was the first program-specific Express Entry draw. From July to today, IRCC held all-program draws in which all eligible Express Entry candidates were considered for invitations. Express Entry candidates may be invited without a provincial nomination from one of the three programmes managed by the Express Entry application management system in an all-program draw.

Express Entry candidates in this draw have already been nominated by their respective provinces. Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) enable Canadian provinces to nominate people who support regional labour market and population goals. Except for Quebec and Nunavut, the majority of Canadian provinces and territories have PNPs that are aligned with Express Entry.

Recent Express Entry outcomes

Express Entry draws resumed three weeks ago after a six-week hiatus between November 23 and January 11. Following its January 11 draw, IRCC held another on January 18.

While the reason for the pause has not been confirmed, IRCC recently sent CIC News an email implying that the pause was caused by a system glitch during the November 16 implementation of National Occupation Classification (NOC 2021).

"Unfortunately, technical issues with the implementation of the new classification system on November 16, 2022, had negative implications for the November 23, 2022, Express Entry invitation round," an IRCC spokesperson said. These technical issues, while inconvenient for IRCC customers, have since been resolved. On January 11, 2023, a round of Express Entry invitations was successfully implemented."

The IRCC has stated that it is working to resume regular draws. Since the start of Express Entry in 2015, draws have taken place every two weeks on Wednesdays. This was true even during a lengthy pause in Express Entry managed programme draws between December 2020 and July 2022, during which time IRCC continued to invite Express Entry candidates from the Provincial Nominee Program.

Express Entry was designed with the goal of identifying and targeting candidates who the government deems to be highly skilled. These candidates are more likely to integrate quickly and contribute positively to Canada's workforce and economy. This is because immigration accounts for up to 90% of Canadian labour force growth and approximately 75% of population growth.

The January 11 draw included 5,500 candidates with CRS cut-off scores of at least 507. The following week, on January 18, IRCC held another surprise draw with the same number of candidates but a significantly lower CRS score of 490.