In the seventh Express Entry draw of 2023, last week, Canada's (IRCC)- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada issued as many as 7,000 invitations to apply, an all-time high number in a single draw. This draw of 2023 has exceeded the earlier record of 5,500 candidates invited in the latest all-program draw carried out on January 18, 2023.

The all-program draws consider candidates from all 3 Express Entry programmes, including the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). The lowest Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score was 490.

This draw breaks the trend of program-specific draws taking place over the past two months apart from issuing a record number of invitations to apply (ITAs). Since the previous all-program draw, there have been four program-specific rounds of invitations, with three for PNP-only and one for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) candidates. The latest draw was PNP-only where only 697 candidates obtained invitations to apply (ITAs) on March 1, 2023.

Before 2023, all Express Entry draws carried out between July and November 2022 were all-program draws that invited over 1,000 candidates each time, and as the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score declined, the number of invitations rose.

(IRCC)- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada also issued a report outlining the Express Entry data for 2021- a unique year in the program's history. Due to COVID-19, all program draws were paused beginning in December 2020 in order to facilitate the backlog generated by travel restrictions and border closures. From December 2020 to September 2021, IRCC resumed issuing invitations to apply to candidates in the (CEC)- Canadian Experience Class and the (PNP)- Provincial Nominee Program.

In 2021, there were no all-program Express Entry draws, and all 42 draws were program-specific for the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), with no ITAs issued to Federal Skilled Worker Program or Federal Skilled Trades Program candidates.

Of the 114,431 ITAs issued in 2021, 64 percent were issued to candidates between 20-29 years who get 100 CRS points under the CRS. Individuals receive fewer points after turning 30. While most ITAs were issued to candidates already living in Canada as interim residents, there were still some ITAs given to those living abroad.