Who has been successful with getting permanent residence through Express Entry in 2025?

As the year comes to a close, looking back on the Express Entry draws conducted in 2025 provides clear insight into the types of candidates Canada prioritized for permanent residence (PR).

Over the course of 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held a total of 58 Express Entry draws, across numerous draw types (as of December 22).

This article will present fictional profiles of candidates that would've likely succeeded in getting an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for PR through the Express Entry system this year.

Here are some basic takeaways based on these draws:

Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws occurred most frequently, making up 24 out of 58 draws—despite this, they only accounted for 9,775 invitations issued (out of a combined total of 117,998 issuances across all draw types).

French language proficiency draws had the lowest Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score cut-offs this year, and saw the most ITAs issued (48,000). This shows that French-language speakers had a big advantage in securing an ITA for PR in 2025.

Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws were held regularly throughout the year, making CEC the second most common draw type with 15 draws and 35,850 total ITAs issued this year. The CRS cut-offs for these draws were relatively high (515–547), suggesting that CEC candidates needed strong overall profiles—through factors such as language, education, age, and additional experience—to receive an ITA.

The healthcare and social service category issued 14,500 ITAs in total, with much lower CRS cut-offs than CEC. Medical professionals in the pool were thus far more likely to have received an ITA for Canadian PR in 2025 (when compared to those with Canadian work experience in other occupations).

Based on these findings, here are four fictional candidate profiles that were most likely to receive an ITA in 2025.

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

Felix Hamadou is a single 32-year-old banking professional from Cameroon.

He holds a two-year post-secondary diploma in finance and has three years of foreign work experience as a banking operations manager.

Felix has strong French-language abilities (Niveaux de compétence linguistique Canadians level 9) and adequate English—Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7— across all four language abilities.

He has not worked or studied in Canada.

This is his CRS breakdown:

Factors determining CRS score	Qualifications	Points accrued
Age	32	94
Level of education	2-year post-secondary diploma	98
Official languages	French (NCLC 9) + English (CLB) 7)	136
Canadian work experience	0	0
Skill transferability: Education (language + educational qualifications)	2-year post-secondary diploma + NCLC 9	25
Skill transferability: Foreign work experience (language + foreign work experience)	NCLC 9 + 3 years of foreign work experience	50
Additional Factors	NCLC 9	50
Total score		453

French language proficiency draws require candidates to show a minimum score of NCLC 7 in all 4 language abilities, which means Felix would qualify for these draws—which in 2025 ranged between 379 and 481. With a CRS score of 453, Felix would have qualified for seven of this year's French-language draws.

Example 2: Anjana, a data analyst, living in Toronto

Anjana Patel is an Indian national, born and raised in Beirut, where she has worked for a year as an e-commerce professional.

She moved to Canada to pursue a three-year-long bachelor’s degree in data science at the age of 20.

At the age of 23, she graduates and successfully applies for a three-year Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP).

With this permit, she joins a Canadian company as a data analyst. Unfortunately, she gets laid off after a year but manages to find another job after six months, leading to over two years of Canadian work experience in total.

At the age of 26, Anjana submits her profile into the pool.

She does not speak French, but has strong English language skills (CLB 10).

Here is her score breakdown below:

Factors determining CRS score	Qualifications	Points accrued
Age	26	110
Level of education	Bachelor’s degree	120
Official languages	English (CLB 10)	136
Canadian work experience	2 years	53
Skill transferability: Education (language + Canadian work experience + educational qualifications)	CLB 10 + over 2 years of Canadian work experience + Bachelor’s degree	50
Skill transferability: Foreign work experience (language + Canadian work experience + foreign work experience)	CLB 10 + over 2 years of Canadian work experience + 1 year of foreign work experience	50
Additional Factors	3-year post-secondary education in Canada	30
Total score		549

Based on her qualifications, Anjana has a CRS score of 549.

Thanks to the Canadian work experience she gained, Anjana is eligible for the CEC program and CEC draws. Her CRS score is higher than any of the cut-off scores for CEC draws held throughout 2025, meaning if she was in the Express Entry pool this year, she would have likely gotten an ITA for PR.

3. Marie, a social worker, from Brazil

Marie Silva is a 28-year-old married woman from Brazil.

She has a Master’s degree and four years of foreign work experience as a social service worker for an NGO in Brazil. She speaks English fluently (CLB 9) but does not speak any French.

Her husband Gabriel also speaks fluent English (CLB 9) and has a PhD in computer science.

After hearing that social services occupations were added to Canada’s category-based selection under the Healthcare category in 2025, Marie decided to submit a profile to Express Entry.

Her CRS breakdown is as follows:

Factors determining CRS score	Qualifications	Points accrued
Age	28	100
Level of education	Master’s degree	126
Official languages	English (CLB 9)	116
Canadian work experience	0	0
Skill transferability: Education (language + educational qualifications)	Master’s degree + CLB 9	50
Skill transferability: Foreign work experience (language + foreign work experience)	CLB 9 + 4 years of foreign work experience	50
Additional Factors	0	0
Spousal Factors
Level of education	PhD	10
First official language	CLB 9	20
Total score		472

Based on these factors, Marie would have gotten a CRS score of 472. There have been three healthcare and social service occupations draws that Marie would have qualified for in 2025, which means she would have likely received an ITA for PR in Canada had she submitted a profile into the pool this year.

4. Jack, a UX designer, from England

Jack Andrews is a 35-year-old UX designer from Reading, England.

He has a two-year post-secondary diploma and three years of foreign work experience.

After receiving a job offer from a fintech in Alberta, he moves to Canada. He works there for a year, submits an expression of interest profile, and receives an ITA through the Alberta Opportunity Stream.

He submits an application and receives a provincial nomination, allotting him 600 additional CRS points.

He has adequate English abilities (CLB 7), and no French-language abilities.

His CRS breakdown is as follows:

Factors determining CRS score	Qualifications	Points accrued
Age	35	77
Level of education	2-year post secondary degree	98
Official languages	English (CLB 7)	68
Canadian work experience	1 year	40
Skill transferability: Education (Education + official language + Canadian work experience)	2-year post-secondary diploma + CLB 7 + 1 year of Canadian work experience	26
Skill transferability: Foreign work experience (language + Canadian work experience + foreign work experience)	CLB 7 + 1 year of Canadian work experience + 3 years of foreign work experience	50
Additional Factors	Provincial nomination	600
Total score		959

With 959 as his CRS score, Jack would have gotten an ITA for PR through any of the Express Entry PNP draws held in 2025.