Canada has kicked off its Express Entry draws for 2025 with a round exclusively targeting candidates who have received provincial nominations.
This draw resulted in 471 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residency (PR).
It marks the first round of invitations for the year.
According to Immigration News Canada (INC), the latest draw had a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score cutoff of 793.
This was an increase of 66 points compared to the previous Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)-only draw.
Details of the latest draw
The Express Entry draw on January 3, 2025, targeted only candidates with a provincial nomination. This resulted in 471 ITAs being issued. The CRS score cutoff for this draw was set at 793, showing a rise from the previous PNP-only draw’s score of 727. The tie-breaking rule for this round was set for November 25, 2024, at 16:57:27 UTC.
As of January 7th, 2025, a total of 227,305 candidates were in the Express Entry pool. The majority of candidates, over 23,000, held scores ranging from 501 to 600. A significant number, over 65,000, had scores between 451 and 500. The pool continues to be competitive, especially with the large number of candidates in the 500+ CRS score range.
Here is a breakdown of CRS score ranges and the number of candidates in each:
For those who did not receive an ITA in this round, there are several strategies to improve CRS scores for future draws.