A History of Category-Based Selection and Its First Rounds

Twenty-eight days. That’s how long it took from Minister Sean Fraser’s announcement of category-based selection to the first round actually run under it — 31 May 2023 to 28 June 2023. The history of category based selection first rounds is a genuinely fast rollout by government standards, and the order the categories launched in still shapes how the system runs today.

Six categories, one announcement

The 31 May 2023 announcement introduced six categories at once: French-language proficiency, healthcare occupations, STEM occupations, trade occupations, transport occupations, and agriculture and agri-food occupations. Every occupation-based category initially required just six months of qualifying work experience — a threshold IRCC later doubled to 12 months, effective February 2026.

First category draw express entry history, round by round

Here’s the first category draw express entry history in the order it actually happened, not the order the categories were announced in:

• 28 June 2023 — healthcare occupations, the very first category round of any kind: 500 invitations at CRS 476.
• 5 July 2023 — STEM occupations: 500 invitations at CRS 486.
• 7 July 2023 — French-language proficiency: 2,300 invitations at CRS 439, already signalling the lower cut-offs this category would keep producing for years.
• 3 August 2023 — trade occupations: 1,500 invitations at CRS 388.
• 20 September 2023 — transport occupations: 1,000 invitations at CRS 435.
• 28 September 2023 — agriculture and agri-food occupations: 600 invitations at CRS 354, the lowest cut-off of the original six launches.

When did category-based selection start, and why healthcare went first

When did category-based selection start? Legally, with Bill C-19 in June 2022, which amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to let the Minister select by category at all — a full year before the first round actually ran. The gap between legal authority and the first draw was IRCC building out the eligibility criteria and occupation lists for six categories simultaneously, then rolling them out roughly weekly through the summer of 2023 once ready. Healthcare going first wasn’t announced as symbolic, but it set a pattern that has held ever since: whichever category IRCC judges most ready, or most urgent, tends to get the earliest round in any given launch wave.

Category draws timeline since 2023, in outline

Category draws timeline since 2023 didn’t stop at six. Education occupations joined for 2025. Physicians with Canadian work experience, senior managers with Canadian work experience, researchers with Canadian work experience, and skilled military recruits all joined for 2026, while agriculture and agri-food was dropped entirely. Transport’s occupation list was rebuilt from scratch for 2026, no longer resembling its 2023 original. The category system that launched with six fixed categories in 2023 has turned out to be a framework IRCC actively reshapes most years, not a settled structure.

That’s the practical lesson from how these categories actually launched: today’s category list is not tomorrow’s, and checking the current roster before planning around any single category is worth doing every year, not just once.

Our free Express Entry Explained guide is kept to the categories genuinely active now, not the historical roster.