STEM and Education Are Still Listed Express Entry Categories, So Why No Recent Draws
Here’s a mistake worth heading off early: checking IRCC’s category-based selection page, seeing STEM and education listed as live categories, and assuming that means a draw is coming soon. Anyone tracking stem category express entry draws will find both categories remain officially in force on IRCC’s own eligibility pages, verified in early August 2026 — and neither has actually drawn in a long time.
What “still listed” actually means
STEM occupations covers 11 listed occupations, with experience accepted from Canada or abroad. Education covers 5 occupations, same rule. Both appear on IRCC’s live category-based selection page alongside the other eight categories, with fully published eligibility criteria. Being listed and being eligible are real, current facts — they just don’t tell you anything about when, or whether, IRCC will actually run a round under either one.
When each category last actually drew
Stem category express entry draws stopped after 11 April 2024 (round 293: 4,500 invitations at CRS 491) — no STEM round has run since, through all of 2025 and into 2026. The education category express entry last draw was 17 September 2025 (round 367: 2,500 invitations at CRS 462); its only other round was its first-ever draw on 1 May 2025 (1,000 invitations at CRS 479). So education drew twice in 2025 and STEM hasn’t drawn since early 2024.
Why the gap is easy to misread
Minister Marc Miller’s 27 February 2025 announcement of priority categories for that year named French-language proficiency, health care and social services, trades, and the newly added education — and didn’t mention STEM at all, which lines up with STEM occupations express entry still eligible on paper but simply not chosen for actual invitations that year. The 18 February 2026 announcement for the following year named French, healthcare and social services, and trades as continuing, again without naming STEM or education specifically — yet both remain live on IRCC’s category page with current eligibility rules. IRCC hasn’t removed them; it just hasn’t drawn them.
The common mistake to avoid
Don’t read a ministerial announcement’s silence on a category as a formal removal, and don’t read continued eligibility as a signal that a draw is imminent. Both readings are wrong in opposite directions. The accurate description of express entry categories with no draws like these two is simply: eligible, published, and currently unused — a status that could change with the next announcement, or could persist for another year with no explanation given.
What this means for planning
If your occupation only fits the STEM or education lists, building a plan around either category drawing again soon isn’t supported by the pattern so far. It may happen — categories have been quietly reactivated before — but there’s no way to predict the timing from the public record.
Whether it’s worth building your Express Entry strategy around a category that hasn’t drawn in over a year, versus pursuing a route that’s currently active, is exactly the kind of judgement call a licensed RCIC can help weigh against your full profile.