How many candidates ranked above the cut-off in draw #332?

On January 8, 2025, the Express Entry pool held 227,763 candidates. 171 of them sat in score bands entirely at or above the 542 cut-off. A further 23,240 sat in the 501-600 band, which the cut-off runs through — IRCC does not publish scores at a finer resolution than these bands, so how many of that group cleared 542 is not knowable from the data.

Canadian Experience Class · 8 January 2025

Express Entry draw #332

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #332?

The cut-off for round #332, held on 8 January 2025, was 542. It was a Canadian Experience Class round and it issued 1,350 invitations to apply, 3 points above the previous Canadian Experience Class round 7 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 542 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at December 07, 2024 at 01:10:06 UTC.

On 8 January 2025, IRCC issued 1,350 invitations to apply in the Canadian Experience Class category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 542 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 3 points above the previous Canadian Experience Class round 7 weeks earlier. That was the second highest of the 11 Canadian Experience Class rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 27,850 invitations at cut-offs between 507 and 547.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #332 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

542

Canadian Experience Class

Previous Canadian Experience Class round: #326 on 19 Nov 2024 at 539 (+3)

1,350
Invitations issued: #332
Round: 08 Jan 2025
Date: December 07, 2024
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Canadian Experience Class

Candidates tied on 542 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at December 07, 2024 at 01:10:06 UTC — a profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

Where 542 fell through the pool

IRCC published the Express Entry pool’s shape alongside this round. On January 8, 2025 it held 227,763 candidates, and the cut-off ran through them here.

Express Entry candidates by CRS range on January 8, 2025, against the 542 cut-off of round #332
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool	Against the cut-off
601–1200	171	0.1%	All invited
Cut-off — CRS 542
501–600	23,240	10.2%	Split by the cut-off
451–500	65,699	28.8%	Below the cut-off
401–450	60,704	26.7%	Below the cut-off
351–400	50,607	22.2%	Below the cut-off
301–350	21,788	9.6%	Below the cut-off
0–300	5,554	2.4%	Below the cut-off

171 candidates sat in bands entirely at or above 542 — 0.1% of the pool.

A further 23,240 sat in the 501–600 band, which 542 falls inside. IRCC does not publish scores more finely than this, so how many of them cleared 542 is not knowable from the data.

In context

Canadian Experience Class rounds in the year to 08 Jan 2025

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the second highest of 11.

542

507
Lowest cut-off: 547
Highest cut-off: 11
Rounds: 27,850
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #332 was held on 8 January 2025. IRCC has run 106 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 542.

The latest draw and the current pool All 438 rounds

Free CRS assessment

Would this round have taken you?

The table above says where 542 fell through the pool. Whether your own score reaches a category, and what would move it — a language retake, a provincial nomination, a spouse’s credentials — is a different question, and it is the one worth answering.

Data: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Round #332, 8 January 2025; pool as published on January 8, 2025.

Three fields · about 30 seconds