Updated July 2026. April 2026 brought seven Express Entry draws — a mix of Trades Occupations, Provincial Nominee Program, Canadian Experience Class, and French-language proficiency rounds. Here’s how the month actually played out.
The Month’s Draws
- April 2: Trades Occupations category draw — 3,000 ITAs at CRS 477
- April 13: PNP draw — 324 ITAs at CRS 786
- April 13 (second round): Additional PNP draw — 473 ITAs at CRS 795
- April 28: CEC draw — 2,000 ITAs at CRS 514
In total, April included 2 PNP draws, 2 CEC draws, 2 French-language proficiency draws, and 1 Trades Occupations draw — seven rounds across the month.
Year-to-Date Progress
By late April 2026, IRCC had issued 65,627 total Express Entry invitations for the year across all draw types — putting 2026 on a similar or slightly faster pace than 2025’s full-year total of roughly 114,000 invitations, depending on how the remaining months played out.
What the Pattern Confirms
April continued the trend that had defined 2026 from the start: category-based draws (Trades, French-language, CEC) driving the bulk of invitation volume, while PNP draws stayed frequent but comparatively small — and carried notably high CRS cutoffs (786 and 795) because they include the 600-point nomination bonus on top of a real base score.
Why This Matters If You’re Tracking Trends
The Trades Occupations category cutoff of 477 was one of the more accessible category-based cutoffs of the month, worth noting if your background includes an eligible trades occupation. Meanwhile, CEC’s 514 cutoff in late April continued the gradual decline in Canadian-experience-based cutoffs that had been running through the year.
Source: IRCC, Express Entry: Rounds of invitations.
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