When is the Next STEM Draw in 2025?

Since IRCC introduced category-based draws in 2023, STEM professionals have only seen three dedicated draws — two in 2023 and one in 2024. Despite their rarity, STEM candidates continue to make up a significant share of overall invitations through other draw types. 

Here’s a closer look at when those draws happened, and how many STEM workers ultimately received ITAs. 

2023: There were two STEM draws: 

Total number of ITAs issued:  6,400 ITAs 

Beyond these two rounds, many STEM candidates received invitations through other draw types — including general draws, Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws, and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws — bringing the total to 32,106 STEM-eligible ITAs in 2023. Of these, 25,706 came from non-STEM draws, and according to the 2023 IRCC’s year-end report, 54% qualified under the CEC program. What’s more, we can see that 21% of all ITAs issued in 2023, went to STEM professionals. 

2024: Only one STEM draw was held on April 11^th 2024, issuing 4,500 ITAs with a lowest CRS of 491. In total, 13,749 STEM-eligible applicants received invitations, with 9,246 from other draw types. While the 2024 year-end report isn’t out yet, we already know the share of ITAs going to STEM professionals dropped from 21% in 2023 to just 14% in 2024. 

2025 (so far): There have been no STEM draws. The Immigration Levels Plan published in late 2024 confirmed STEM is not a listed priority category for 2025. We have no data yet that confirms how many STEM professionals have been selected from CEC and PNP draws. 

The simple answer is that STEM was not selected as a priority category in the Immigration Levels Plan for 2025. Instead, IRCC appears to be leaning on other draw types, such as Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws and Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws, to select STEM professionals (that is, those eligible to receive an ITA in a STEM draw) from the Express Entry pool. Looking back at 2023 and 2024, it’s clear that large numbers of STEM candidates were invited through these other pathways, suggesting IRCC may feel there is no immediate need to run dedicated STEM draws. 

Based on the Immigration Levels Plan, 2025 won’t prioritize STEM draws. However, IRCC launched a survey in August 2025 to guide category-based selections for 2026, and STEM is expected to return as a category then, considering the STEM category is referenced throughout the survey.

Outside Canada: While competitive abroad, overseas STEM applicants face fewer category-based opportunities. Only one draw in 2024 and none yet in 2025 have specifically targeted this group. Despite that, over 9,000 STEM-eligible candidates still secured ITAs in 2024 through other draw types. This trend suggests IRCC may keep using CEC and PNP draws to filter STEM talent already in Canada, rather than running STEM-specific rounds that would also capture more overseas candidates. If you are a STEM applicant outside of Canada, you should be trying to maximise your CRS score as much as you can, for when STEM draws do return.  

Inside Canada: STEM-eligible candidates are still getting ITAs, just not through STEM draws. Therefore, rather than optimizing your profile to get a STEM ITA in the next STEM draw, focus on optimizing your profile so you get invited in the next CEC draw or explore PNP’s that target STEM workers.  

With no STEM draws so far in 2025 and consistently high CRS cut-offs in recent CEC draws, it’s reasonable to expect that the next STEM draw see a CRS cut off above 500, especially if the draw size is modest. 

For context: