Canada continues to prioritize its healthcare sector through targeted immigration initiatives. On May 2, 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conducted a category-based Express Entry draw, inviting 500 candidates from healthcare and social services occupations. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score required was 510, marking the highest cutoff for a healthcare-specific draw to date.
Details of this Draw -
✔️ Invitation Round: #345
✔️ Date of Round: May 02, 2025
✔️ Type of Draw: Healthcare and Social Services
✔️ Number of ITAs Issued: 500
✔️ CRS Score of Lowest-Ranked Candidate Invited: 510
✔️ Tie-Breaking Rule: 21 July 4:31 a.m. 2025
Focus on Healthcare and Social Services
This draw attests to Canada's commitment to focusing on labor shortages affecting its healthcare sector. Included for this category-based selection are a wide variety of health-care occupations, such as:
Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
Physicians and general practitioners
Pharmacists
Dentists
Physiotherapists
Social workers
Medical laboratory technologists
Occupational therapists
Eligibility Criteria
Minimum 6 months of continuous, full-time work experience
Experience must be in an eligible healthcare or social services occupation
Candidates must have relevant work experience gained in the last three years
Experience can be from Canada or abroad
Implications for Canada's Immigration Landscape
The May 2 draw highlights Canada’s strategic use of category-based selections to address specific labor market needs.
By aiming at healthcare professionals and social service workers, IRCC intends to alleviate serious shortages and to better serve important sectors across the country.
This higher cutoff score for the CRS is a testimony to the stiff competition among candidates from both fields of health and social services fields.
Potential immigrants to the healthcare and social service sectors need to improve their profiles, particularly their work experience, education, and language skills, to increase their CRS score and hence increase their likelihood of selection
On May 1, 2025, Canada held its first-ever Express Entry draw targeting education professionals, inviting 1,000 candidates to apply for permanent residency. The aim was to tackle teacher shortages by prioritizing experienced educators.
Canada's targeted approach demonstrated in the Express Entry draw of May 2, 2025, clearly indicates that strengthening the healthcare workforce through immigration holds utmost priority. Hence, it is a valuable opportunity for healthcare professionals from around the world to bring their skills to Canada's healthcare system while simultaneously building their futures in the country.
