What Happened in Canada’s Express Entry in April?

Key Takeaways

• We saw four draws in total in April, two general draws and two category-based draws – one French and one for STEM occupations. This trend aligns with what we expect to see in terms of ITAs in 2024. 
• There were 9,275 invitations issued via Express Entry in April 2024.

Summary and Analysis of the April 2024 Express Entry Draws

French Proficiency Draw: April 24, 2024

The CRS cut-off score of 410 in the April 24 Express Entry draw is significantly lower than the 529 points required the previous day in a General Draw. But, a cut-off score of 410 is actually a touch higher than one might have expected for a French draw.

For reference, previous French draws this year had cut-off scores of 365, 336, and 388, respectively, with the latter two coming in draws with a similar number of invitations issued (2,500 and 1,500).

Yes, slightly fewer invitations (1,400) were issued on April 24 compared to the previous French draw of March 26 (1,500), but the points threshold has increased by 22 points over those four weeks. This indicates replenishment of the Express Entry pool with French proficient candidates.

At this rate, it remains to be seen if enough invitations will be issued to French proficient candidates — either through category-specific draws or General draws, which, of course, these candidates may also be eligible for — to keep the CRS cut-off score for French draws at or around the 400-mark.

General Draw: April 23, 2024

Though this draw witnessed a drop of 20 points in the cut-off threshold since the preceding General draw, the cut-off threshold was still in the typical range for a draw of this type and this size for this year so far. Of the most recent five General draws, four had cut-off thresholds between 524 and 535.

We recently learned that around 22 percent of Express Entry invitations in 2024 would be issued via General draws. It’s quite possible that some category-specific draws might be larger in size than General draws — recent draws for STEM candidates (April 11; 4,500 candidates invited) and French-proficient candidates (February 1; 7,000 candidates) were far larger in size than any General draw so far this year.

If General draws remain relatively moderate in size but frequent in their regularity, it seems likely that the cut-off threshold for General draws will remain above 500, and potentially comfortably above that threshold. Candidates with points totals around or below 500 and who are not eligible for category-specific draws can consider ways to improve their CRS score to improve their chances of being invited to apply.

STEM Draw: April 11, 2024

This is 2024’s first STEM draw! While it’s always tricky to predict when IRCC might conduct another draw, it does look like STEM draws will be a relatively rare occurrence – potentially taking place just once every 4-6 months. To put it in perspective, we’ve seen more French draws this year than we’ve had STEM draws since category-based draws were introduced last year.

General Draw: April 10, 2024

On Wednesday April 10, Canada issued 1,280 invitations in a General Express Entry draw. This draw comes with the highest CRS cut-off in 2024. It also ends the trend IRCC had set last month of conducting a draw every second Tuesday.

Given the relatively small number of candidates who were invited, it’s likely that the lion’s share of these invitations went to candidates with a CRS of over 600. There were 1,093 candidates in the pool with a CRS of 601+ on April 9, so that leaves around 187 invitations in this round for candidates with scores between 549 and 600.