Express Entry Draw 296 on May 30, 2024 — Finally!

Key Takeaways for Express Entry Candidates

• Type of draw: Provincial Nominee Program
• Invites issued: 2,985
• CRS score: 676
• Tie-breaking rule: January 19, 2024
• This draw comes after a month’s hiatus on Express Entry draws.

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Our Analysis of This Express Entry Draw

This is the first Express Entry draw in May 2024, which comes as a bit of a surprise since many of us expected to see a general draw on Tuesday May 7. IRCC has been regularly conducting general draws every two weeks for most of 2024, typically on Monday or Tuesday.

And after a full month of no draws, this draw is likely not the news many Express Entry candidates hoped for. It wasn’t a general draw or even a category-based draw, it was the first program-specific draw in 2024.

In this round, only candidates who are eligible for the PNP would be invited. For anyone holding your breath as a result of the extremely high CRS, it’s worthwhile bearing in mind that a provincial nomination comes with 600 additional points. This means that its possible there is a candidate in the pool with as few as 76 points, absent their points for nomination. It’s likely that this means almost all PNP candidates were sent an invitation to apply via this draw.

It is not a sign that General Express Entry draws will have scores above 600 in the future.

So, why did we see a Provincial Nominee Round today after a month of no other draws? IRCC has not published its reasons for the draw, but it has previously stated that it would rely on provinces to manage their immigration priorities. This draw may reflect that IRCC did not want to commit to an all program or category-based draw at this stage, but wanted to empower the provincial candidates to move forward with their applications.

Comparison To Previous Provincial Nominee Program Round

This is the first Provincial Nominee Program draw since October 24, 2023. In that round, the CRS cut off was a staggering 776 points, and 1,548 invitations were issued. Prior to that, we also saw a Provincial Nominee draw on May 10, 2023 with a CRS cut off of 691 and 589 invitations issued.

So, the May 30 draw is comparatively larger and, as a result, had a much lower CRS than the October 2023 round.

• Learn more about the latest Express Entry draws.
• Learn more about the state of the Express Entry pool.
• Learn when to expect the next Express Entry draw.

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