Express Entry Draw 356: PNP Candidates Invited on July 21, 2025

Key Takeaways From Express Entry Draw 356 on July 21, 2025

• Type of draw: Provincial Nominee Program
• Invitations issued: 202
• CRS score: 788
• Tie-breaking rule: June 05, 2025 at 23:50:45 UTC
• Prediction for the next draw: Canadian Experience Class draw on July 22, 2025

How Does This Latest Draw Stack Up Against Other PNP-Only Draws This Year?

This was one of the smallest PNP draws of the year, with just 202 ITAs issued and a relatively high CRS cut-off, compared to past PNP draws.

Here is how it compares to past 2025 PNP draws:

This brings the total number of invitations issued through PNP-specific draws in 2025 to 6,053.

Why Are PNP Draw Sizes Getting Smaller?

With restrictive caps on the amount of nominations each province can issue, PNP draw sizes are getting smaller as provinces near their allocation limits for the year. We expect this trend to continue for the rest of the year.

Is the PNP Still a Smart Pathway to Permanent Residence in 2025?

The PNP route remains a smart and strategic pathway to permanent residence in 2025,  but whether it’s the right choice for you depends heavily on your individual profile.

For candidates who are struggling to meet the CRS thresholds for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or category draws, a provincial nomination is still one of the most effective ways to secure an invitation, thanks to the 600-point CRS boost it provides.

However, competition to secure a provincial nomination has become increasingly steep. Provinces have limited nomination allocations, and many have stricter selection criteria, prioritizing candidates with specific work experience, in-demand occupations, strong language skills, or existing ties to the province.

This means that even highly qualified candidates may find themselves ineligible for certain provincial streams, or facing long waits in expression of interest (EOI) pools.

In short, while a provincial nomination can be a powerful tool for boosting your CRS score and securing an ITA, it’s important to understand the individual requirements of each province, stay alert to program openings, especially as provinces continue to refine their immigration priorities throughout 2025.

How Does The Provincial Nominee Program Work in 2025 Under Express Entry?

If you’re not familiar with Canada’s Express Entry system, it’s an application management system used to manage economic immigrants to Canada. The benefits of the Express Entry system are that it offers streamlined application timelines for people who are ranked highly and invited to apply for permanent residence. After you receive an invitation and submit your application, it usually takes IRCC around 6 months to make a decision.

• Keen to learn more about Express Entry? Check out our dedicated Express Entry page.

With that in mind, the Provincial Nominee Program is a program that’s offered at the provincial level but then managed and approved at the federal level. Some PNPs require you to be eligible for Express Entry, so they can be inter-related, but there are also PNPs that allow you to immigrate even if you don’t qualify for Express Entry.

Learn more about Canada’s PNPs via our PNP Tracker, which comes with a range of tools, including a stream finder. You’ll need to sign up for our free account to access these helpful tools, so if you want to skip straight to those — sign up here.

You can also sign up for up-to-date information about Express Entry draws via your free Moving2Canada account. Just subscribe to our newsletter for news about the draws and our analysis as it happens, so you’ll never miss the latest results. This can be a powerful tool to help you identify trends and map your pathway to permanent residence in Canada.