Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has held its first Express Entry draw of 2025 targeting healthcare and social services professionals, issuing 500 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for permanent residency. This specialized draw, conducted on May 2, required candidates to have a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 510 and to have submitted their Express Entry profiles before July 21, 2024, at 4:31 a.m. UTC.
This is the highest CRS cut-off score ever recorded for a healthcare category-based draw since the category’s inception. It also follows a February 2025 update to the healthcare stream, which added a range of social services occupations to the eligibility list, expanding opportunities for candidates in caregiving, mental health, and community support roles.
The draw is part of a busy week for Canada’s Express Entry system. It comes on the heels of two other draws: the first-ever education-focused draw on May 1, which issued 1,000 ITAs with a CRS threshold of 479, and a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw on April 28 that invited 421 candidates with a much higher cut-off of 727. In total, IRCC has issued 33,429 ITAs across various categories so far this year.
So far in 2025, Express Entry draws have been most frequent for Provincial Nominee Program candidates (seven draws), followed by those for French-language proficiency (three draws), Canadian Experience Class (three draws), and now single draws each for education and healthcare/social services professionals. The government has emphasized targeting priority sectors to address Canada’s evolving labor market needs.
Candidates invited through Express Entry have up to one year to maintain their profiles. Once selected, they can expect their permanent residence applications to be processed within six months—significantly faster than other PR pathways like traditional PNP streams, which can face longer wait times due to additional layers of provincial and federal approval.
Originally published on Weekly Voice