Express Entry Draw 374: 302 PNP Candidates Invited on October 27, 2025

Key Takeaways From Express Entry Draw 374 on October 27, 2025

• Type of draw: Provincial Nominee Program
• Invitations issued: 302
• CRS score: 761
• Tie-breaking rule: September 26, 2025 at 02:14:06 UTC
• Prediction for the next draw: Canadian Experience Class Draw, October 28 to 29

Our Analysis of This PNP Express Entry Draw

Today’s PNP-specific Express Entry draw issued 302 invitations with a CRS cut-off of 761. This marks the 20th PNP Express Entry draw of 2025 and likely the final one before the release of Canada’s new Immigration Levels Plan on November 4, 2025.

Today’s draw brings the total number of ITAs issued in a PNP Express Entry draw this year to 7,885.

According to IRCC’s new processing-time tracker, there are currently about 11,500 PNP applications in progress via the Express Entry system. Candidates who receive an invitation today can expect a processing time of roughly 7 months, once their application has been submitted.

In contrast, approximately 94,700 applicants are waiting through the non-Express Entry PNP route, where average wait times stretch to around 15 months. This widening gap between the two streams underlines how IRCC may be calibrating intake to manage backlogs — and how provinces could be relying more heavily on non-EE aligned programs to meet regional labour demands.

Is the PNP Still a Smart Pathway to Permanent Residence in 2026?

Until the 2026 PNP allocation targets are confirmed, this question doesn’t have a clear-cut answer. But the trends so far in 2025 paint an interesting picture.

Today’s draw brings the total number of PNP-specific Express Entry invitations this year to 7,885. If IRCC maintains this pace for the rest of the year, around 300 invitations per draw across four additional rounds before year-end (assuming they continue roughly every two weeks), we’re looking at a year-end total of just over 9,000 ITAs issued.

By comparison, 15,483 PNP Express Entry ITAs were issued in 2024, and that was with PNP-specific draws only resuming midway through the year, in May 2024. So even with a full 12 months of draws in 2025, Express Entry–aligned PNP numbers appear to be trending significantly lower.

Adding to that, the processing backlog for the non–Express Entry stream is nearly eight times larger than that of the EE-aligned stream. This suggests that non–Express Entry PNP streams remain far more popular, both among applicants and provincial governments.

This sharp contrast indicates that provinces are prioritizing non–Express Entry nominations, which give them more flexibility to target specific labour-market needs and occupations in demand. Going into 2026, candidates interested in pursuing the PNP should pay close attention to non–Express Entry streams, as these appear to be the primary focus for most provinces right now.