Insights into Canada’s 2025 Express Entry Draws

Reflecting on the Express Entry draws of 2025 offers valuable insights into the types of candidates prioritized by Canada for permanent residence (PR).

Throughout 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted a total of 58 Express Entry draws, encompassing various draw categories (as of December 22).

This article will showcase hypothetical candidate profiles that were likely to have received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for PR through the Express Entry system in the same year.

Key Takeaways from the Draws:

  • Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws were the most frequent, constituting 24 out of 58 draws. However, they only contributed to 9,775 invitations issued, out of a total of 117,998 across all draw types.
  • French language proficiency draws had the lowest Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score cut-offs in 2025, resulting in 48,000 ITAs issued. This highlighted the advantage of French-language speakers in obtaining ITAs for PR.
  • Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws were conducted regularly, making it the second most common draw type with 15 draws and a total of 35,850 ITAs issued. The relatively high CRS cut-offs for CEC draws (515–547) indicated the need for strong profiles encompassing language, education, age, and additional experience.
  • The healthcare and social service category issued a total of 14,500 ITAs, with lower CRS cut-offs compared to CEC. Medical professionals in this category were more likely to receive ITAs for Canadian PR in 2025.

Based on these insights, the article presents four fictional candidate profiles that were well-suited to receive an ITA in 2025.

Example 1: Felix, a French-speaker, from Cameroon

Felix Hamadou, a 32-year-old banking professional from Cameroon, possesses a two-year post-secondary diploma in finance and three years of foreign work experience as a banking operations manager.

He demonstrates strong French-language skills (Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens level 9) and adequate English proficiency (Canadian Language Benchmark level 7) across all language abilities.

Having no prior work or study experience in Canada, here is Felix’s CRS breakdown: