In the year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada introduced a lot of changes to the Express Entry draws in 2023. And this makes us wonder how the draws would perform in 2024. Before we try to answer this question, we first need to analyze how the draws went in the previous year.
Express Entry Draws in 2023
In terms of Express Entry draws, we saw a lot of ups and downs in 2023. The main key takeaways are the introduction of category-based selection and the rise of CRS cut-offs for general Express Entry draws.
The first 6 months of the Express Entry draws in 2023 continued just fine like it did in the previous years. Draws would occur every two weeks or so, most of the draws being All Program in nature, and CRS cut-offs generally being around 500 points.
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However, all of this changed since the launch of Category-based Express Entry draws on 31st May, 2023. The draws that used to be conducted for specific programs only, were now focusing on particular occupations or categories.
People anticipated draws every fortnight, on Wednesdays usually, however, with the advent of category-based selection, they began to be conducted almost in an unpredictable fashion.
It became hard to predict when the next draw would be held or what would be the draw type. This is because the criteria of categories or draw types expanded to a much larger extent which made it hard to determine the upcoming target of draws.
IRCC set out six categories of Express Entry draws for the year 2023 and these are:
- French Language Proficiency
- STEM Occupations
- Healthcare Occupations
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Occupations
- Trade Occupations
- Transport Occupations
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CRS cut-offs in 2023
Now, let’s talk about how the CRS cut-offs performed in 2023. Although the minimum CRS score that candidates needed to receive an ITA was high in early 2023, it soon faded to settle around 500 points with each draw.
Of course, there were occasional draws with a higher CRS cut-off requirement, however, the general requirement of CRS being above 500 points remained the same throughout the year.
One peculiar thing seen with the category-based selection was the decrease in CRS requirement. Candidates under specific occupations or categories did not need to score much as the draws would require lower CRS score.
The first Express Entry of 2023 was held on 11 January while the last one was conducted on 21 December. Overall, about 110,200 ITAs were issued in 2023 through Express Entry draws alone.
Based on these numbers, we may be so bold as to predict that the future of CRS score 2024 seems good for the category-based selection draws. As for the general draws, the cut-off requirement might go higher.
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