A Record Week for Express Entry, a New Era for Ontario's PNP, and Tighter Doors for Business and Family Sponsorship
- Gagandeep Singh
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
This was one of the busiest weeks of the year for Canadian immigration. IRCC ran three Express Entry draws in three consecutive days, Ontario published the long-awaited scoring rules for its overhauled provincial nominee stream, and the federal government's tightening of business and family sponsorship pathways continued to take shape. Here's what changed, what it means for you, and what to watch for next week.
EXPRESS ENTRY: A PACKED DRAW CLUSTER
IRCC ran seven Express Entry draws across four categories through July 22 — two Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) rounds, two Canadian Experience Class (CEC) rounds, two French-language rounds, and one Senior Managers round — for a combined 15,545 invitations to apply (ITAs) for the month. It then added an eighth draw on July 23: the very first-ever Skilled Military Recruits round. As of July 21, IRCC had held 40 draws in 2026, issuing 99,612 ITAs since January 5.
This week's rounds, in order:
July 20 – PNP-specific draw: 511 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 744, up 36 points from the July 6 PNP round (708).
July 21 – Canadian Experience Class: 2,000 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 516.
July 22 – French language proficiency: 5,000 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 399, a sharp 21-point drop from the July 9 French round (420) and the most accessible French draw since March.
July 23 – Skilled Military Recruits (the first-ever round in this category): 4 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 368.
The Express Entry pool sat at 231,533 candidates as of July 19. The takeaway for clients sitting in the 500–520 CRS range: CEC continues to offer the most realistic non-French, non-PNP pathway, while French-language ability remains the single biggest lever for candidates without a provincial nomination.
PROVINCIAL NOMINEE PROGRAMS: ONTARIO SHOWS ITS HAND
The biggest PNP news of the week came out of Ontario. On July 22, the province published the Expression of Interest (EOI) scoring factors for the new Ontario Workforce Priority (OWP) stream, which replaced all eight legacy OINP streams on June 26.
The framework weights Ontario work experience and Canadian income-tax history heavily, alongside wages, official-language ability and bilingualism, job-offer location, education, and occupation. The EOI portal itself remains closed and is still expected to reopen sometime between July and September — candidates should have their tax and employment documentation ready to move quickly once it does.
Elsewhere across the country, provinces kept up an aggressive pace:
Manitoba issued EOI Draw #275 on July 16, sending 1,874 Letters of Advice to Apply to top-ranked candidates with Manitoba post-secondary education (minimum score 825), plus smaller targeted invitations for international graduate-internship, healthcare, and French-speaking candidates.
Nova Scotia ran a one-time expansion on July 14, reaching into its EOI pool to select temporary residents already working in the province in healthcare and skilled trades earning at least $27/hour.
Alberta and BC issued a combined 1,453 invitations in mid-July across the Alberta Opportunity Stream, the Dedicated Health Care Pathway, and BC's Innovate category.
Saskatchewan's SINP intake windows continue to fill within hours of opening, underscoring just how much demand still exceeds allocation in that province.
With PNP admission targets up 66% for 2026 (91,500, versus 55,000 the year before), provincial pathways remain the fastest route to a low-CRS invitation — but Ontario's transition shows how quickly the rules can change underneath an existing strategy.
BUSINESS IMMIGRATION & SUPER VISA: DOORS NARROWING, THEN WIDENING
Two trends worth flagging for business and family-class clients this week:
Business immigration
The federal government's 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan cuts admissions through the Federal Business programs by 50%, down to just 500 for 2026. Vancouver immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens has also flagged a steady decline in entrepreneur work permit approval rates: C-11 (LMIA-exempt, "significant benefit") approvals fell from 65% in 2023 to 44% in the January–August 2025 window, while provincial entrepreneur work permits dropped from 71% to 62% over the same period. For clients pursuing C-11 or provincial entrepreneur pathways, this means stronger business plans, cleaner ownership documentation, and realistic timelines matter more than ever — approval is no longer a formality.
Super Visa and family sponsorship
IRCC has paused new interest-to-sponsor submissions under the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) until further notice, part of the broader effort to bring temporary and family-stream volumes down. For families who can't wait for PGP to reopen, the Super Visa remains fully open and continues to allow stays of up to five years per entry. Processing times, however, are uneven by country: the Super Visa timeline for India has improved dramatically, dropping roughly 200 days since January, while Pakistan has spiked to the longest wait of any Super Visa country this year, and the Philippines and Nigeria both saw modest increases in the most recent weekly IRCC update. If you have a Super Visa file in the pipeline, expect country-specific timelines to keep shifting week to week.
FROM OTTAWA: STATEMENTS WORTH NOTING
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Lena Metlege Diab's office confirmed the PGP pause in a public notice this month, framing it as part of a deliberate strategy to bring the non-permanent resident share of the population down from roughly 6.8% to 5% by the end of 2027 while holding permanent admissions relatively steady.
Prime Minister Mark Carney's public focus this week was dominated by trade — he convened a virtual First Ministers' meeting on July 21 and an in-person session with the premiers in Charlottetown on July 23, both centred on the latest round of U.S. tariff threats. Immigration wasn't a headline item at either meeting, but Carney's broader framing remains consistent with comments he's made earlier this year linking Canada's slower population growth directly to deliberate government policy — a reminder that the current lower-volume, higher-selectivity approach to immigration is expected to continue rather than reverse in the near term.
WEEK AHEAD: WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
A new round of temporary residence processing-time data is due from IRCC around July 29 — worth checking if you have a Super Visa, work permit, or study permit file in progress.
Continued watch on the Ontario Workforce Priority EOI portal opening date; we'll flag it the moment it goes live.
Possible further category-based Express Entry draws (STEM, healthcare, trades) as IRCC works through its 2026 cluster model.
Any update on U.S.–Canada tariff talks, which could shape the tone of the federal government's economic — and by extension immigration — messaging heading into August.
IMMIGRATION TIP OF THE WEEK
If your Express Entry profile has PNP interest boxes checked for Ontario, don't let the OWP transition catch you off guard. Start pulling together your Ontario Notice of Assessment history and proof of Ontario work experience now — the new EOI scoring system rewards exactly that documentation, and being ready the day the portal reopens can be the difference between an early invitation and a long wait in the pool.
Have questions about how any of this affects your file? Reach out to our team at info@elginimmigration.com or visit elginimmigration.com for more updates.
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