Express Entry · Category draws
Which Express Entry category is actually yours
Every consultancy in India tells you to target a category. IRCC publishes which ones Indians actually win, and the answer does not match the advice. These are its figures for 2024, set beside what each category costs today.
The short answer
Indian citizens received 43% of all Express Entry invitations in 2024, the largest share of any nationality, but only 3% went to candidates actually living in India. By category, India took 73% of Trades invitations, 66% of Transport, 48% of STEM and 34% of healthcare, against 2% of French-language ones. The categories Indian candidates are told to target are the ones they already dominate, which is what makes them expensive.
Who wins each category, and what it costs now
The share column is IRCC's count of invitations by country of citizenship in 2024. The cut-off column is the most recent round in that category from IRCC's rounds feed, which this site reads directly. Sorted by India's share, highest first.
| Category | India's share | Avg CRS | Last cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trades | 73%of 5,176 | 461 | 4761 October 2026 |
| Transport | 66%of 1,834 | 465 | 4707 August 2026 |
| STEM | 48%of 20,320 | 500 | Not drawn recently |
| Healthcare and social services | 34%of 15,164 | 468 | 4754 September 2026 |
| Agriculture and agri-food | 18%of 378 | 464 | Not drawn recently |
| French-language proficiency | 2%of 24,686 | 450 | 43516 October 2026 |
Leading a category is not good news
India is first of all countries in 4 of these 6 categories. That reads like an advantage and it is the opposite. A category where 73% of invitations go to one nationality is a category where that nationality is mostly competing against itself, and a cut-off is nothing more than the score of the last person let in. Crowding is what sets it.
Look at STEM against French in the table. STEM sent 9,765 invitations to Indian citizens, more than any other category, at an average CRS of 500, the highest of the six. French sent 463 to Indian citizens at an average of 450, the lowest. Fifty points separates them, and the difference is not difficulty. It is how many people are standing in each queue.
What this means about the advice you have been given
The largest category is the one India is not in
French-language proficiency issued 24,686 invitations in 2024, more than any other category-based stream, at the lowest average CRS of the six. Indian citizens took 2% of them. Cameroon took 41%.
That is not evidence that French is oversold. It is the opposite: it is the least contested large door in the system, and almost nobody from India is walking through it. The last French round cut off at 435, against 435 in the most recent round overall.
The honest caveat is that this is a long road. French to the level these rounds require is a year or more of real study for most people, not a certificate anyone can buy, and that is exactly why the queue is short. It is worth considering if you are early enough in your planning that a year is available to you, and not worth considering if you are trying to fix a score this quarter.
What to actually do with this
The number at the top of this page is the one to keep. 43% of invitations went to Indian citizens and 3% went to candidates living in India, while 69% went to candidates already in Canada. Indians win Express Entry in enormous numbers, and they overwhelmingly win it after arriving on a study or work permit rather than by applying from here.
So the useful question is rarely which category to target from India. It is whether your route to permanent residence runs through a Canadian study or work permit first, whether a provincial nomination is reachable, and whether French is available to you on your timeline. We will tell you when the answer is that Express Entry is not your next step, because for most people who ask us, it is not.
Will the 2027 categories be different?
Source
Common questions
Which Express Entry category is best for Indian applicants?
The category with the least competition from other Indian candidates is French-language proficiency, where Indian citizens received just 2% of the 24,686 invitations issued in 2024 even though it was the largest category-based stream that year and had the lowest average CRS score of any of them at 450. The categories most Indian candidates target are the crowded ones: India took 73% of Trades invitations, 66% of Transport, 48% of STEM and 34% of healthcare. Being first in a category means competing mostly against other Indian candidates, which is what pushes a cut-off up.
What percentage of Express Entry invitations go to Indians?
Indian citizens received 43% of all Express Entry invitations in 2024, the largest share of any nationality, down from 47% in 2023. Candidates whose country of residence was India received only 3%, down from 7%, while 69% of all invitations went to candidates already living in Canada. Those two figures count the same people differently, and the gap between them is the clearest measure of how much easier the system is for an Indian citizen who is already in Canada on a study or work permit.
Is the STEM category still holding Express Entry draws?
STEM has not been drawn recently. It took 9,765 invitations for Indian citizens in 2024, 48% of that category and more than any other single category sent to India, but it does not appear among the categories IRCC has drawn in the window our rounds feed covers. A category that exists on paper is not the same as a category that is issuing invitations, and the gap between those two is where a lot of advice goes stale. The live cut-off and the date of the last round for every category that is drawing are on this page.
Express Entry
Find out which door your profile actually reaches, before you spend a year chasing one that is shut.
We check your score against every category IRCC is currently drawing, and say plainly when none of them is within reach yet. Canadian applications are prepared under RCIC licence R710507.
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