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Immigration
By Stephanie Ford
Posted on June 4, 2025
Looking for Express Entry updates but fed up with scouring the internet? Now you can get the latest Express Entry news and expert insight delivered to your inbox.
We were caught a little off guard by today’s healthcare draw, since it’s the second category-based draw targeting healthcare and social services workers in just over a month. Even though we did suggest that we might see another small draw in the short-term, this draw does deviate from IRCC’s healthcare draw trends. Typically, we would expect to see around 4-5 months go by before seeing another healthcare round.
That being said, the size of two recent draws also differ quite drastically from the previous years, so that may give us a clue as to why we’re seeing more frequent draws.
Today’s draw invited just 500 candidates to apply for permanent residence in Canada. The CRS cut-off remained quite high, at 504, though it was lower than what we saw in the May 2, 2025 healthcare round, which had a CRS cut-off of 510.
For some context on previous healthcare rounds, the healthcare round on November 20, 2024 invited 3,000 workers with a cut of 463 but even that was a relatively high CRS cut off. We saw scores as low as 422 in the healthcare draw round in February of 2024.
So, what does this mean for future rounds?
As of now, just 1,000 healthcare candidates have been invited in 2025 — a far cry from the 3,500+ invited by June last year. However, we are also seeing significant focus on healthcare professionals at the provincial level — which may be why Canada is inviting smaller numbers of healthcare workers through its category-based rounds.
Given that many candidates invited going forward will be admitted to Canada in 2026, we would hope to start seeing some more action on the category-based draws front in the latter half of 2025.
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To be eligible for an invitation through a category-based round, you must:
Additionally, you must have at least six months of full-time, continuous work experience (or an equivalent in part-time work experience) in one eligible occupation.
Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians
Audiologists and speech language pathologists
Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists
Chiropractors
Dental hygienists and dental therapists
Dentists
Dieticians and nutritionists
General practitioners and family physicians
Licensed practical nurses
Massage therapists
Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations
Medical laboratory technologists
Medical radiation technologists
Medical sonographers
Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
Nurse practitioners
Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
Occupational therapists
Optometrists
Other medical technologists and technicians
Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
Paramedical occupations
Pharmacists
Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants
Pharmacy technicians
Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
Physiotherapists
Psychologists
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
Social and community service workers
Social workers
Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
Specialists in surgery
Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies
Veterinarians.
If your work experience spans multiple occupations, you will need to accumulate six months in a single occupation to qualify.
Of course, healthcare workers in Canada may also be selected in Canadian Experience Class draws but selection in this category may come with a more competitive CRS cut-off.
For more information:
For up-to-date information about Express Entry draws, consider creating a free Moving2Canada account and subscribing to our newsletter. We share news about the draws and our analysis as it happens, so you’ll never miss the latest results.
Canada Abroad is a transparent Canadian immigration consultancy with advice you can trust. Led by Deanne Acres-Lans (RCIC #508363), the team delivers professional, regulated, and efficient service.
Led by Anthony Doherty (RCIC #510956) and Cassandra Fultz (#514356), the Doherty Fultz team uses their 40+ years of experience to empower you towards settling in Canada.
Led by Jenny Perez (RCIC #423103), Perez McKenzie Immigration is a Canadian immigration consultancy based in British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver and Whistler.
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