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Trends · Chapter 2 of 3

Invited, and the wait.

Getting an ITA is one of the most anxious waits in the process, and what follows is another. This chapter shows you honestly how the draw bar has actually moved, who gets invited, and how long the AOR-to-eCOPR journey really takes for people who have already lived it.

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Act 3 · Getting invited

The bar you have to clear.

This is the part that keeps people awake. Express Entry ranks everyone in the pool by CRS score and invites from the top down, so the whole thing can feel like standing on a line that keeps moving. The question underneath every refresh of the draw page is simple and human: is the bar rising, and does my score clear it? The charts here won’t promise you an answer, but they will show you honestly how the bar has actually behaved, who is getting invited, and which lanes tend to sit lower than the general pool.

Who gets invited, by program and year

Number of invitations (ITAs) issued each year, by program · 778,570 in total across all years

201521,535
201625,725
201767,745
201871,725
201971,630
202081,150
2021108,095
202237,320
202385,745
202490,005
202574,545
2026 (YTD)43,350
Canadian Experience ClassFederal Skilled TradesFederal Skilled WorkerNot StatedProvincial Nominee Program
Details
Canadian Experience ClassFederal Skilled TradesFederal Skilled WorkerNot StatedProvincial Nominee Program
20158,0451,8458,66502,980
201610,3201,3056,97007,130
201729,22034029,09009,095
201825,07030036,225010,130
201925,63511532,655013,225
202044,67019522,155014,130
202185,76008,650013,685
202212,97005,200019,150
202341,455021,710022,580
202443,870021,040025,095
202535,190029,160010,195
2026 (YTD)26,125013,07004,155
Official · IRCCIRCC Express Entry invitations (ITAs), by program

Each stacked bar is a count of real invitations for that year, not a share or an average. The shape of the stack has shifted over time as IRCC has leaned more on category-based rounds, so the program that dominated a few years ago may not be the one issuing the most invitations today. If your program looks like a thin slice, don’t read that as bad news. It usually reflects how IRCC chose to split its draws that year, not your personal odds.

CEC draw cut-off, recent trend

Minimum CRS needed to be invited in each CEC round (recent draws, a score, not a count)

5335072025-10-282026-08-05
Official · IRCCIRCC Express Entry draws (CEC)

Each point is the cut-off from one CEC round, so this line is the bar itself, moving in real time. It rises and falls with how many invitations IRCC issues and how large the pool is that week, which is why a single high draw shouldn’t be read as a verdict on your chances. Watch the trend rather than any one dot. If you’re a few points under a recent cut-off, the honest read is “keep improving your profile,” not “give up.”

Latest cut-off by draw category

Most recent CRS cut-off in each draw category (a score, not a count) with the draw date

Other (2026-07-23)368
French (2026-08-06)391
Agriculture (2024-02-16)437
Education (2025-09-17)462
Transport (2026-08-07)470
Healthcare (2026-06-25)475
Trades (2026-04-02)477
FSW (2023-02-02)489
STEM (2024-04-11)491
CEC (2026-08-05)516
General (2024-04-23)529
PNP (2026-08-04)768
Details
Other (2026-07-23)368
French (2026-08-06)391
Agriculture (2024-02-16)437
Education (2025-09-17)462
Transport (2026-08-07)470
Healthcare (2026-06-25)475
Trades (2026-04-02)477
FSW (2023-02-02)489
STEM (2024-04-11)491
CEC (2026-08-05)516
General (2024-04-23)529
PNP (2026-08-04)768
Official · IRCCIRCC Express Entry draws, all categories

CRS score bands of invited candidates

Number of candidates invited in each CRS score band (all years, counts rounded to the nearest 5)

Score 351 - 40023,605
Score 401 - 450125,145
Score 451 - 500307,495
Score 501 - 600144,610
Score 901 - 100081,650
Score 1001 - 110066,635
Details
Score 351 - 40023,605
Score 401 - 450125,145
Score 451 - 500307,495
Score 501 - 600144,610
Score 901 - 100081,650
Score 1001 - 110066,635
Official · IRCCIRCC Express Entry invitations (ITAs), by CRS score band
One thing worth holding onto before the numbers get to you: a draw cut-off is the score of the last person invited that round, not a grade on your file. It moves with supply and demand, not with your worth as a candidate. The more useful signal is that there is rarely just one bar to clear. Category-based draws for healthcare, trades, French, and STEM often invite at lower cut-offs than the general pool, because IRCC is filling specific needs rather than skimming the very top. If you qualify for one of those categories, your effective bar can be meaningfully lower than the headline number everyone quotes. So before you measure yourself against the general cut-off, it is worth checking which lanes you could actually be standing in.
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Act 4 · The wait

How long it really takes.

The wait is the hardest part, so we’ll be honest about it from two directions at once. On one side is what real applicants in the community actually lived through, the median gap between AOR and eCOPR for people who shared their timelines. On the other is what IRCC’s own throughput, the raw count of COPRs it issues, says about how fast the queue in front of you is clearing. One is lived experience, the other is machinery. Neither is a promise, and reading them together is far more honest than trusting a single number from either.

AOR to eCOPR: community timelines

Median days from AOR to eCOPR across 657 shared community timelines

114 daysmedian AOR → eCOPR · all streams (community)
Community · timelinesCommunity tracker timelines

COPRs issued: IRCC throughput

Number of eCOPRs IRCC issued in the latest month it reported

31,275COPRs issued · 2026-04 (latest month)
Official · IRCCIRCC operational processing, COPRs issued
It helps to be clear about what each number is. The community figure is a median, the middle of many real waits, so roughly half of people finished sooner and half took longer. The throughput figure is a plain monthly count of eCOPRs issued, rounded by IRCC, a measure of how fast the line is moving rather than how long any one person waits. They come at the same question from opposite ends, and that is exactly why we show both. Neither is a promise; both are honest reference points. Your own wait will depend on when you applied, which visa office holds your file, and the case-by-case pace of review, so treat these as the shape of the road ahead, not a countdown clock for your file.
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Source: IRCC — IRCC: Express Entry invitations (ITAs). Data through 2026 · published 2026-07-21 View on open.canada.ca · Open Government Licence – Canada

Source: IRCC — IRCC: operational processing (COPRs issued). View on open.canada.ca · Open Government Licence – Canada