Express Entry Draw 325: 174 PNP Candidates Issued Invitations on November 18, 2024

Key Takeaways for Express Entry Candidates

• Type of draw: Provincial Nominee Program
• Invitations issued: 174
• CRS score: 816
• Tie-breaking rule: August 28, 2024 at 05:12:34 UTC
• Prediction for the next draw: Canadian Experience Class on November 19, 2024.
• Learn more about the changes proposed for the 2025 Express Entry categories.
• New to the excitement of Express Entry draws? Check out our guide to Express Entry.

Watch this reel for a quick summary of last week’s draws:

Our Analysis of This Express Entry Draw

Given that we had another PNP draw just last week, this draw may come as a bit of a surprise to some. Unfortunately, we think it’s just IRCC ‘making up’ for the missed draws in the week of the US election — so it can better plan for the end of year holidays. We do not think that IRCC will continue a trend of smaller weekly draws (though, it’s not impossible this will happen, since IRCC can set its own draw schedule and change it whenever it wishes).

What is surprising is the size of this draw — at just 174 invitations, it is the third smallest PNP round ever. The two smaller rounds took place in April of 2020 (118 invitations) and May 2017 (143 invitations). However, in both of those rounds, the CRS cut off was lower than we saw today — showing that there has been an increased in competition in 2024, even amongst the ranks of PNP candidates.

We do expect the trend of increasing CRS cut offs within the PNP draws will continue, and likely worsen, throughout 2025. This is because Canada plans to massively decrease its PNP allocation for 2025.

With that said, today’s draw brings the total number of Express Entry PNP draws in 2024 to 11, with 13,722 invitations issued in those draws.

Per month, this is broken down as follows:

• May: 2,985
• June: 1,499
• July: 3,275
• August: 1,884
• September: 911
• October: 2,261
• November: 907

From January to April, IRCC invited PNP applicants through general draws. We do not have the exact number of provincial nominees invited during these rounds.

What Does 2025 Hold for PNP Express Entry Draws?

In October, Canada’s government published the 2025–2027 immigration levels plan. With this announcement, Canada revealed its intent to cut PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) targets by over 50%, reducing planned admissions from 120,000 in 2025 to 55,000. In contrast, we expect to see around 110,000 admissions through PNP in 2024. So this is a significant decrease. 

As a result, we can expect fewer invitations in each PNP Express Entry draw in 2025, though the frequency of these draws will likely remain similar to 2024.

While this news may seem disappointing for PNP candidates, there is a positive note: the immigration levels plan includes a special allocation of 82,980 spots for applicants already in Canada. We expect that a significant portion of these admissions will go to in-Canada applicants who might have otherwise applied through a PNP. For more details on the 2025 PNP targets, you can read our in-depth analysis here.

For more information:

• 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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