Who gets invited to apply
Official IRCC data on who receives Invitations to Apply (ITAs) via Express Entry: programs, score distributions, source countries, and occupations.
Getting an Invitation to Apply is the moment Express Entry stops being a waiting game and becomes a real application. This page walks through the official IRCC data on who actually receives those invitations: which programs they came through, what scores cleared the bar, where they came from, and what they did for a living. None of it tells you exactly what will happen in your case, but it shows you the real shape of the competition you are part of.
Filter year-specific charts
Year-specific charts below show data for 2026. The program mix chart shows all years.
Invitations by program, all years
Number of invitations issued per year, by program
Total ITAs issued each year across CEC, FSW, FST, and PNP. All years shown, not filtered by the year selector above.
Each bar is the total number of people IRCC invited that year, divided by which program they came through. The Canadian Experience Class has dominated in most recent years because it targets people already working in Canada on temporary permits, and that population has grown considerably. The Federal Skilled Worker stream accounts for applicants whose skilled experience was mostly abroad. Provincial Nominee Program rounds appear when provinces and IRCC run aligned category-based draws, which can spike PNP counts significantly in a single year.
The year-to-year swings tell a policy story as much as a talent story. When IRCC wants to hit an annual target, it runs more draws. When it wants to pace to a lower target, it runs fewer. You cannot read much about applicant quality from the total count alone.
CRS score bands
Number of people invited in each CRS score band (2026)
Count of ITAs issued, grouped by the CRS score of the candidate at invitation. Rounded to nearest 5; small counts suppressed by IRCC.
These are counts of people, not averages or percentages. The tallest bar is the score band where most invitations landed. What you will notice is that the distribution is not uniform: it tends to cluster just above the cut-off for that year's draws. When IRCC runs a category-based round with a lower cut-off, a large group of people in a lower score band gets invited at once, which pulls the whole year's distribution downward.
If you are looking for the score range that actually matters, the cut-off from the most recent draw of your category is the number to watch. This chart is the record of what cleared the bar over the whole year, not just the most recent round.
Top source countries
Number of people invited, by country of citizenship (2026)
Number of invited candidates from each of the top 10 countries of citizenship. Rounded to nearest 5.
This shows how many people from each country received an ITA. India and China consistently appear near the top, mainly because they have very large populations working in Canada on temporary permits, many of whom have become CEC-eligible over the years. It reflects who is in the pool, not any preference built into the program. Your country of citizenship does not affect your CRS score or your eligibility.
Top occupations
Number of people invited, by occupation (2026)
Number of invited candidates in each of the top 10 NOC occupations. Rounded to nearest 5.
These are counts of people who were invited with that occupation on their profile. We cannot compare them directly to the number of people in the pool with each occupation, so this is not a conversion rate. What it does show is which occupations appeared most often among the people who actually got an ITA that year.
When IRCC runs a category draw targeting a specific sector (healthcare, STEM, trade occupations), those occupations spike sharply in that year's data. If your occupation appeared in a targeted category, that is a meaningful advantage that goes beyond your raw CRS score.
What the data tells us
Drawn from IRCC Express Entry invitations data and draw records. Figures are approximate. IRCC rounds counts to the nearest 5.
Invitation volume: the year-over-year picture
Invitations were down 58.3% in 2026 compared with 2025. A drop in total invitations often means IRCC is pacing toward an annual target it has already partially filled, or that fewer category draws ran that year. A lower total does not mean the bar got harder for everyone uniformly. Category rounds can still invite at lower cut-offs even when the General pool sees fewer draws.
Category lanes that have recently invited below the General cut-off
The most recent General draw had a minimum CRS cut-off of 529. Not every draw goes to the General pool. IRCC also runs targeted category draws for specific occupational groups and French-proficiency candidates, and these have historically invited at lower scores. The table below shows which category lanes most recently cleared the bar below that General cut-off.
If your profile qualifies you for one of these categories, you may receive an invitation before the General pool clears. You do not need to apply separately for a category round. IRCC evaluates your profile automatically against any category you are eligible for when that type of round is held. IRCC does not publish a schedule for future category draws.
- French proficiency409
- Other429
- Transport occupations430
- Agriculture and agri-food437
- Education occupations462
- Healthcare occupations475
- Trade occupations477
- Federal Skilled Worker489
- STEM occupations491
- Canadian Experience Class516
Cut-offs shown are from each lane's most recent draw. Past cut-offs are not a guarantee of any future round.
How the General round cut-off has moved recently
Across the 8 most recent General draws, the minimum CRS cut-off moved from 543 to 529, a decrease of -14 points.
The cut-off is not a fixed bar. It moves based on how many people are in the pool at or above it and how many invitations IRCC chooses to issue in that round. A rising cut-off does not mean the system is shutting people out. It often means the pool grew, or that IRCC ran a smaller draw. A falling cut-off usually means more invitations went out in that round, sometimes because of a large category draw that cleared a specific group. Your score stays where it is unless something on your profile changes.
About this data
- Annual data: invitation figures are published once per year, not monthly.
- Counts are rounded to the nearest 5 by IRCC; small counts (1–5) are suppressed. Totals are approximate and may not reconcile across dimensions.
- “Program” means the immigration program (e.g. CEC, FSW, FST, PNP), not the draw-type category shown in the IRCC draws list.
- Score bands with suppressed cells show as absent; the chart understates total invitation counts in those years.
Independent, not affiliated with IRCC or the Government of Canada
Source: IRCC — IRCC Express Entry invitations (ITAs), by immigration program, score band, country, and occupation. Data through 2026 · published 2026-06-16 View on open.canada.ca → · Open Government Licence – Canada