Immigration Guide

Express Entry draw: latest round, CRS cut-offs and draw history (2026)

By Alex Francisco Updated Oct 11, 2026 Figures checked Oct 11, 2026 10 min read

What was the latest Express Entry draw and what was the CRS cut-off?

The latest Express Entry draw was round #447 on October 1, 2026, a Trades Occupations category-based round in which IRCC issued 3,500 invitations and the lowest-ranked candidate invited had a CRS score of 476. The latest Canadian Experience Class round, on September 29, 2026, had a cut-off of 518, and the latest Provincial Nominee Program round, on September 28, 2026, had a cut-off of 725.

Round #447 on October 1, 2026 is the newest Express Entry draw in IRCC's data file: a Trades Occupations category-based round with 3,500 invitations and a CRS cut-off of 476.
The CRS cut-off is the score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited in one round; it applies to that round only, and IRCC says the cut-off varies from round to round.
IRCC describes three round types: general, program-specific and category-based. The 30 most recent rounds were all program-specific or category-based, with no general round among them.
Across those 30 rounds, Canadian Experience Class cut-offs ran from 516 to 523, Provincial Nominee Program cut-offs from 697 to 768 and French-language proficiency cut-offs from 382 to 420.
The tie-breaking rule is a date and time: when several candidates share the lowest score, the cut-off is based on when each one submitted an Express Entry profile.
An invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only, and a profile that gets no invitation expires 12 months after it was submitted.

— YieldMaple, figures checked against official sources on October 11, 2026. Sources

An Express Entry draw, which IRCC calls a round of invitations, is the moment Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) ranks the candidates in the Express Entry pool by Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and invites the top-ranked ones to apply for permanent residence. This page records the latest round and the 30 most recent rounds exactly as IRCC’s own rounds data file lists them, then explains the round types, the CRS cut-off and the tie-breaking rule in IRCC’s terms.

Latest Express Entry draw: round #447

How to read this table: the tie-breaking rule is a profile submission date and time, not a score. The invitation count and CRS cut-off for this round are in the first row of the next table.

Detail	As published by IRCC
Round number	447
Round type	Trades Occupations, 2026-Version 3 (category-based)
Date and time of round	October 1, 2026 at 12:47:55 UTC
Programs covered	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Tie-breaking rule	May 28, 2026 at 16:55:23 UTC
Pool score distribution published as of	September 27, 2026

Source: Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (how the rounds work); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (tie-breaking rule); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (general rounds); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (program-specific rounds); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (category-based rounds); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (instructions for each round); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (pool score distribution); Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca (provincial nominees); Express Entry: Category-based selection - Canada.ca (who is invited in each round type); Express Entry: Category-based selection - Canada.ca (current categories); Express Entry: Category-based selection - Canada.ca (category rounds supplement other rounds); Express Entry: Category-based selection - Canada.ca (eligibility for a category-based round); IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations data file (ee_rounds_123_en.json) - Canada.ca (latest round, date and tie-breaking fields); IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations data file (ee_rounds_123_en.json) - Canada.ca (programs covered by a category-based round); IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations data file (ee_rounds_123_en.json) - Canada.ca (most recent round labelled General); IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations data file (ee_rounds_123_en.json) - Canada.ca (first round of 2026); Express Entry: Category-based selection - Canada.ca (French-language proficiency category); Express Entry: Create your profile - Canada.ca (keeping a profile up to date); Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence - Canada.ca (invitation valid for 60 days); Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence - Canada.ca (profile expires after 12 months); Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence - Canada.ca (declining an invitation); Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence - Canada.ca (cut-off varies); Express Entry: Create your profile - Canada.ca (program order); Express Entry: Check your score - Canada.ca (score out of 1,200). In effect from July 10, 2026; checked October 11, 2026.

Express Entry draw history: the 30 most recent rounds of invitations

How to read this table: newest round first. The CRS cut-off is the score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited in that round only. A label that names a program is a program-specific round; the other labels are categories, and the version tag is part of IRCC's label.

Round	Date	Round type (IRCC label)	Invitations issued	CRS cut-off
447	October 1, 2026	Trades Occupations, 2026-Version 3	3,500	476
446	September 29, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	2,000	518
445	September 28, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	733	725
444	September 16, 2026	Senior managers with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1	250	389
443	September 15, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	2,000	519
442	September 14, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	576	734
441	September 4, 2026	Healthcare and Social Services Occupations, 2026-Version 3	3,500	475
440	September 3, 2026	Physicians with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1	229	198
439	September 1, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	2,000	521
438	August 31, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	562	697
437	August 19, 2026	French-Language proficiency 2026-Version 2	5,000	382
436	August 18, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	1,000	523
435	August 17, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	442	760
434	August 7, 2026	Transport Occupations, 2026-Version 2	300	470
433	August 6, 2026	French-Language proficiency 2026-Version 2	5,000	391
432	August 5, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	3,000	516
431	August 4, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	507	768
430	July 23, 2026	Skilled Military Recruits, 2026-Version 1	4	368
429	July 22, 2026	French-Language proficiency 2026-Version 2	5,000	399
428	July 21, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	2,000	516
427	July 20, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	511	744
426	July 10, 2026	Senior managers with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1	500	392
425	July 9, 2026	French-Language proficiency 2026-Version 2	5,000	420
424	July 7, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	2,000	517
423	July 6, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	534	708
422	June 25, 2026	Healthcare and Social Services Occupations, 2026-Version 3	4,000	475
421	June 24, 2026	Physicians with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1	271	223
420	June 23, 2026	Canadian Experience Class	4,000	516
419	June 22, 2026	Provincial Nominee Program	955	730
418	May 28, 2026	French-Language proficiency 2026-Version 2	4,500	409

Source: IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations data file (ee_rounds_123_en.json) - Canada.ca; Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca. In effect from October 1, 2026; checked October 11, 2026.

This page is education, not immigration advice, and it makes no forecast of future rounds. Whether a specific profile was invited shows only in that candidate’s IRCC secure account.

What was the latest Express Entry draw?

The latest Express Entry draw in IRCC’s data file is round #447, held on October 1, 2026. IRCC labelled it “Trades Occupations, 2026-Version 3”, which makes it a category-based round: 3,500 invitations went out, and the lowest-ranked candidate invited had a CRS score of 476. The file was read on October 11, 2026, and no round dated after October 1 was listed.

Because each round type ranks a different group of candidates, the latest result for one type says little about another. The newest round of each type in the table above:

Category-based (trades): round #447, October 1, 2026, 3,500 invitations, cut-off 476.
Canadian Experience Class: round #446, September 29, 2026, 2,000 invitations, cut-off 518.
Provincial Nominee Program: round #445, September 28, 2026, 733 invitations, cut-off 725.
French-language proficiency: round #437, August 19, 2026, 5,000 invitations, cut-off 382.
Healthcare and social services occupations: round #441, September 4, 2026, 3,500 invitations, cut-off 475.

Those three days at the end of September and start of October brought 6,233 invitations across three different round types. A candidate comparing a score with these figures can work it out line by line with the CRS calculator, which uses the same grid IRCC publishes.

How do Express Entry rounds of invitations work?

IRCC describes every round as the same four steps, whatever the round type.

How an Express Entry round of invitations works

How to read this table: the steps are from IRCC's rounds of invitations page. The number of invitations is decided before the cut-off exists: the cut-off is simply the score of the last candidate invited.

Step	What IRCC does
1	IRCC chooses the type of round it will hold.
2	IRCC decides the number of candidates it needs to invite.
3	IRCC identifies the highest-ranking candidates from the pool who are eligible for the chosen round type.
4	IRCC invites these candidates to apply for permanent residence.

The order of those steps matters for reading results. IRCC does not set a score and then invite everyone above it. It sets the round type and the number of invitations, and the cut-off falls out of who is in the eligible group that day. That is why a round with a small number of invitations and a round with a large one can end at similar scores, or very different ones.

Each round also has a set of instructions, posted online at the time of the round and used by the Express Entry system to send the invitations. According to IRCC, the instructions include:

What the instructions for each Express Entry round include

How to read this table: the instructions are the legal basis for a round. For a category-based round, a candidate has to meet every requirement in them, not just the category name.

Item in the round instructions
The date and time of the round
The number of candidates that will get an invitation to apply
The round type (general, program-specific or category-based)
Which immigration program(s) are included in the round, for program-specific rounds
Eligibility for the category, for category-based rounds

To be in the pool at all, a candidate has to be eligible for one of the programs Express Entry manages. The Express Entry guide covers the profile and the programs, and the Canadian Experience Class requirements page covers the program built around skilled work experience gained in Canada.

What are the three types of Express Entry rounds?

IRCC lists three types of rounds on its rounds of invitations page: general, program-specific and category-based.

Types of Express Entry rounds of invitations, as IRCC describes them

How to read this table: in all round types, IRCC invites the eligible candidates with the highest CRS scores. In category-based rounds, candidates must also be eligible for the category.

Round type	Who IRCC invites	Also stated by IRCC
General	Top-ranking candidates in the pool who are eligible for 1 of the 3 programs managed through Express Entry.	Candidates with a provincial or territorial nomination are also invited through general rounds.
Program-specific	Top-ranking candidates who are eligible for a specific Express Entry program.	IRCC's example: in a round held specifically for the Provincial Nominee Program, only candidates eligible for that program are invited.
Category-based	Top-ranking candidates in the pool who are eligible for a category the Minister established to meet a specific economic goal.	Candidates must be eligible for 1 of the 3 programs and meet all of the requirements in the instructions for that round.

The label IRCC gives a round shows which type it is. The 30 most recent rounds carry nine different labels:

Round labels in the 30 most recent Express Entry rounds, by type

How to read this table: the programs column is the wording in IRCC's rounds data file for that label. A round labelled with one program covers only that program; every category label covers all three programs.

IRCC round label	Round type	Programs covered, per IRCC data file
Canadian Experience Class	Program-specific	Canadian Experience Class
Provincial Nominee Program	Program-specific	Provincial Nominee Program
French-Language proficiency	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Healthcare and Social Services Occupations	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Trades Occupations	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Transport Occupations	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Physicians with Canadian Work Experience	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Senior managers with Canadian Work Experience	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program
Skilled Military Recruits	Category-based	Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program

Category-based rounds only exist for categories the Minister has established. IRCC’s category-based selection page lists these as the current categories:

Current Express Entry categories for category-based rounds

How to read this table: a category being on this list does not mean a round for it has been held recently. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, education and researcher rounds do not appear in the 30 most recent rounds.

Category
French-language proficiency
Healthcare and social services occupations
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations
Trade occupations
Education occupations
Transport occupations
Physicians with Canadian work experience
Senior managers with Canadian work experience
Researchers with Canadian work experience
Skilled military recruits

IRCC adds two points about categories. Category-based rounds are meant to supplement the other round types, and IRCC may not need a category-based round if enough top-ranking candidates in a category are already being invited through general or program-specific rounds. The French-language proficiency category has the most rounds of any category in the table above. IRCC sets its requirement at French test results of at least level 7 in all 4 language abilities on the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens, so the IELTS to CLB conversion guide helps with seeing how test scores map to the benchmark levels IRCC uses.

General rounds are the type missing from the recent record. Counting every round in IRCC’s data file, not only the latest 30:

General Express Entry rounds: 2026 count and the most recent one

How to read this table: counted on October 11, 2026 from the round labels in IRCC's data file. Earlier rounds that IRCC labelled 'No Program Specified' are not counted as General here.

Count from IRCC data file	Result
Rounds of invitations dated in 2026, up to October 1 (rounds #389 to #447)	59
Of those, rounds labelled General	0
Most recent round labelled General	Round #294, April 23, 2024: 2,095 invitations, CRS cut-off 529

How many rounds of each type were there, and what were the CRS scores?

Grouping the 30 rounds in the table by IRCC’s label gives the counts and score ranges below. Every figure is a count, sum, lowest value or highest value taken from the table.

Program-specific rounds: 16 rounds, 22,820 invitations

Canadian Experience Class: 8 rounds, 18,000 invitations, cut-offs from 516 to 523.
Provincial Nominee Program: 8 rounds, 4,820 invitations, cut-offs from 697 to 768.

Category-based rounds: 14 rounds, 37,054 invitations

French-language proficiency: 5 rounds, 24,500 invitations, cut-offs from 382 to 420.
Healthcare and social services occupations: 2 rounds, 7,500 invitations, cut-off 475 both times.
Trades occupations: 1 round, 3,500 invitations, cut-off 476.
Senior managers with Canadian work experience: 2 rounds, 750 invitations, cut-offs of 389 and 392.
Physicians with Canadian work experience: 2 rounds, 500 invitations, cut-offs of 198 and 223.
Transport occupations: 1 round, 300 invitations, cut-off 470.
Skilled military recruits: 1 round, 4 invitations, cut-off 368.

General rounds: 0 in this window.

In total the 30 rounds issued 59,874 invitations. French-language proficiency rounds account for about 41% of them and Canadian Experience Class rounds for about 30%.

Two things stand out from the ranges. The Canadian Experience Class cut-off barely moved: the gap between its highest and lowest cut-off over 8 rounds was 7 points, even though round sizes ran from 1,000 to 4,000 invitations. And the Provincial Nominee Program numbers sit in a different range for a mechanical reason: a nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the lowest Provincial Nominee Program cut-off of 697 corresponds to 97 points from everything else in the profile. The nomination itself comes from a province or territory before the federal round; the OINP draws page tracks Ontario’s selection draws, and the Provincial Nominee Program guide by province compares the others.

What does the CRS cut-off mean?

The CRS cut-off is the score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited in a round. Every Express Entry candidate gets a score out of 1,200 under the Comprehensive Ranking System, and the cut-off is where IRCC’s invitation count ran out for that round’s eligible group. IRCC’s terms, from its own pages:

CRS cut-off, tie-breaking rule and pool distribution: what IRCC publishes

How to read this table: all four are published per round or per page by IRCC. None of them is a target or a promise for a later round.

Term	What it means	IRCC page
CRS cut-off	The CRS score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited in a round. IRCC also publishes the rank needed to be invited.	Rounds of invitations
Tie-breaking rule	If more than one candidate has the lowest score, the cut-off is based on the date and time they submitted their Express Entry profiles. IRCC publishes that date and time for each round.	Rounds of invitations
Pool score distribution	The total number of people in the pool overall by CRS score range, a few days before an invitation round. It may change as people submit new profiles and other profiles expire.	Rounds of invitations
Cut-off from round to round	The cut-off score varies from round to round.	Apply for permanent residence

Three consequences follow from those definitions:

A cut-off is tied to its round type. A score of 480 is above the trades cut-off of 476 in round #447, but a candidate with that score is only invited in a trades round if the profile also meets the trades category requirements in that round’s instructions.
Being above a past cut-off is not an invitation. IRCC states that the cut-off score varies from round to round. The table shows results, not thresholds for future rounds.
A score can change after an invitation. IRCC tells candidates whose situation changes to recalculate the score before applying, and gives a lost job offer, a lost provincial nomination and expired or lower language test results as examples of changes that could lower it. The CRS points table sets out the points for each factor.

IRCC also publishes the CRS score distribution of the pool alongside each round, which shows how many candidates sit in each score band a few days before the round. That table is covered on the CRS score distribution page.

How does the tie-breaking rule work?

The tie-breaking rule applies only to candidates whose score is exactly the cut-off. IRCC’s rule is that if more than one candidate has the lowest score, the cut-off is based on the date and time they submitted their Express Entry profiles, and IRCC publishes that date and time for each round.

For round #447 the published tie-breaking date and time was May 28, 2026 at 16:55:23 UTC. Candidates with a score above 476 were not affected by it at all. It only sorted the candidates sitting at exactly 476, by when their profiles went in.

The practical reading is narrow. The rule matters to a candidate whose score equals a round’s cut-off, and the only input is the profile submission time. It is not a second score and it does not apply across rounds.

How often do Express Entry draws happen?

IRCC says it invites candidates in rounds throughout the year and does not publish a calendar of future rounds. What can be measured is the past. In the 30 most recent rounds:

The rounds fell on 30 different days, so no day had two rounds.
They span 126 days. With 30 rounds there are 29 gaps, so the average gap between rounds was about 4 days.
The longest gap was 25 days, between round #418 on May 28 and round #419 on June 22.
From June 22 the rounds came in runs of consecutive or near-consecutive days: June 22 to 25, July 6 to 10, July 20 to 23, August 4 to 7, August 17 to 19, August 31 to September 4, September 14 to 16 and September 28 to October 1. That is 8 runs, and the first day of each run was 13 to 15 days after the first day of the one before.
Each of those 8 runs opened with a Provincial Nominee Program round followed by a Canadian Experience Class round, and then one or two category-based rounds.
By calendar month, the window holds 4 rounds in June, 8 in July, 8 in August and 8 in September, plus one each in late May and on October 1.

Invitations by month were 9,226 in June (from June 22), 15,549 in July, 15,811 in August and 11,288 in September.

These are counts of what has already happened. IRCC chooses the type, timing and size of every round, and nothing in the data file says when the next one will be or what type it will be. When the file was read on October 11, 2026, 10 days had passed since round #447.

What happens after an Express Entry draw?

Candidates who were invited get a message in their IRCC account. From there, IRCC’s rules set the clock.

After an Express Entry round: invited, declined, expired or not invited

How to read this table: the rules are from IRCC's 'Apply for permanent residence' and 'Create your profile' pages.

Situation	What IRCC says happens
Invited to apply	The invitation is valid for 60 days only. A message in the IRCC account says which program the invitation is for and what to do next.
Eligible for more than one program	IRCC invites the candidate to the first program they are eligible for, in this order: Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program. The candidate cannot choose.
Invitation declined	The candidate is put back into the pool and is considered in future rounds if still eligible. IRCC says declining does not affect whether the candidate is invited later, and that there is no guarantee of another invitation.
Invitation neither declined nor used within 60 days	The invitation expires and the profile is removed from the pool. A new profile must be submitted and accepted into the pool again.
Score drops below the round's lowest score before applying	IRCC says the candidate should decline the invitation; if they apply anyway, IRCC may refuse the application and not refund the application fee.
Not invited	A profile automatically expires if the candidate is not invited within 12 months of submitting it. A new profile can then be created. Until then, IRCC says the profile must be updated if the candidate's situation changes.

Sixty days is a short window for a full permanent residence application. IRCC lists proof of funds among the documents most applicants upload, and the settlement funds checker shows the amount IRCC lists by family size and who is exempt. The government fees due with the application are set out on the Canada PR fees page.

A profile that was not invited stays in the pool until its expiry date as long as the candidate remains eligible, and IRCC requires the profile to be updated if the candidate’s situation changes. For candidates who are not invited, IRCC’s page mentions applying directly to a province or territory through the Provincial Nominee Program as another option to consider.

Common mistakes when reading Express Entry draw results

Comparing a score with the wrong round type. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the nomination points, and a category cut-off only applies to candidates in that category.
Treating the latest cut-off as the next one. IRCC says the cut-off varies from round to round, and the round type changes from one round to the next.
Reading the tie-breaking date as a deadline. It is a profile submission date and time that IRCC uses to separate candidates tied at the cut-off score, and it matters only to candidates at exactly that score.
Assuming every round is open to every candidate. None of the 30 most recent rounds was a general round, and no round dated in 2026 carries that label.
Ignoring the category version tag. A tag such as “2026-Version 3” is part of IRCC’s label for the round; who is eligible is set out in that round’s instructions.
Letting an invitation lapse. An invitation that is neither used nor declined within 60 days expires and takes the profile out of the pool.
Applying after a score has dropped below the round’s lowest score. IRCC says such a candidate should decline, and that it may refuse the application and keep the fee otherwise.

How is this Express Entry draw history kept up to date?

The rounds table is copied from the data file IRCC publishes for its own rounds of invitations pages, and each row is compared with that file field by field: round number, date, IRCC’s label, invitations issued and the CRS score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited. The table keeps the 30 most recent rounds, so when a new round is added the oldest one drops off, and the counts and ranges on this page are recalculated from the new set of 30. The source and the date it was last checked appear under each table.

For official confirmation of any round, IRCC’s rounds of invitations page on Canada.ca is the record; this page adds the grouping by round type and the arithmetic. Readers working on their own profile can go from here to the CRS calculator for a score, to the Express Entry guide for the full process, or to the Canadian Experience Class page for the program behind the most frequent program-specific round.

Frequently asked questions

When was the latest Express Entry draw?

The newest round in IRCC's rounds data file is round #447, held on October 1, 2026. It was a Trades Occupations category-based round: 3,500 invitations, with a CRS score of 476 for the lowest-ranked candidate invited. The file was read on October 11, 2026 and listed no later round. The two rounds before it were a Canadian Experience Class round on September 29 and a Provincial Nominee Program round on September 28.

What is the CRS cut-off in an Express Entry draw?

The CRS cut-off is the Comprehensive Ranking System score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited in a round. IRCC publishes it for every round, along with the number of invitations and the rank needed to be invited. A cut-off belongs to one round and one round type: IRCC states that the cut-off score varies from round to round, so a score that was enough in one round is not a pass mark for the next.

What was the latest CRS draw score for the Canadian Experience Class?

The most recent Canadian Experience Class round was round #446 on September 29, 2026, with 2,000 invitations and a cut-off of 518. In the 30 most recent rounds there were 8 Canadian Experience Class rounds, and their cut-offs stayed between 516 and 523. Only candidates eligible for that program were ranked in those rounds, because they were program-specific.

Why is the CRS cut-off so high in Provincial Nominee Program draws?

A provincial or territorial nomination adds 600 points to a CRS score, and a Provincial Nominee Program round invites only candidates eligible for that program. That is why the 8 Provincial Nominee Program rounds in the 30 most recent rounds had cut-offs between 697 and 768, while every other round type stayed below 530. Take away the 600 nomination points and the lowest of those cut-offs is 97.

What is the tie-breaking rule in Express Entry?

The tie-breaking rule decides who is invited when several candidates have the same score as the cut-off. IRCC's wording is that if more than one candidate has the lowest score, the cut-off is based on the date and time they submitted their Express Entry profiles. IRCC publishes that date and time with each round. For round #447 it was May 28, 2026 at 16:55:23 UTC.

How often are Express Entry draws held?

IRCC says only that it holds rounds throughout the year; it does not publish a schedule. Looking back, the 30 most recent rounds were held on 30 different days between May 28 and October 1, 2026, a span of 126 days. There were 4 rounds in June, all from June 22 onward, then 8 in July, 8 in August and 8 in September. Those counts describe what happened and say nothing about future rounds.

What are the types of Express Entry rounds?

IRCC lists three. General rounds invite top-ranking candidates eligible for any of the 3 programs managed through Express Entry. Program-specific rounds invite top-ranking candidates eligible for one program, such as the Provincial Nominee Program. Category-based rounds invite top-ranking candidates who are eligible for a category the Minister established, such as French-language proficiency or healthcare and social services occupations.

Is there a general Express Entry draw in 2026?

No round dated in 2026 carries a general label in IRCC's data file. The file lists 59 rounds from January 5 to October 1, 2026 (rounds #389 to #447), and every one is program-specific or category-based. The most recent round labelled General is round #294 on April 23, 2024, with 2,095 invitations and a cut-off of 529. IRCC still lists general rounds as one of its three round types.

How long is an invitation to apply valid after a draw?

IRCC states that an invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only. If the invitation is not declined and no application is submitted in that time, it expires and the profile is removed from the pool, so a new profile has to be submitted and accepted again. A candidate who declines goes back into the pool and is considered in later rounds if still eligible.

What happens to an Express Entry profile that is never invited?

A profile automatically expires if the candidate is not invited to apply within 12 months of submitting it. IRCC shows the expiry date in the account and sends a message when the profile is removed. A new profile can be created afterwards, and IRCC says not to create one before the existing profile expires unless the existing one is withdrawn first.

Can a candidate with a provincial nomination be invited in a general round?

Yes. IRCC's rounds of invitations page says it will continue to invite candidates with a provincial or territorial nomination through general and Provincial Nominee Program-specific rounds. In the 30 most recent rounds there was no general round, so nominees in that period were invited through the 8 Provincial Nominee Program rounds, which issued between 442 and 955 invitations each.

What was the latest French Express Entry draw?

The most recent French-language proficiency round was round #437 on August 19, 2026, with 5,000 invitations and a CRS cut-off of 382. It was one of 5 French-language rounds among the 30 most recent rounds; together they issued 24,500 invitations at cut-offs between 382 and 420. IRCC's category page sets the requirement at French test results of at least level 7 in all 4 language abilities on the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens.

Which Express Entry draw had the lowest CRS cut-off recently?

In the 30 most recent rounds, the lowest cut-off was 198, in the Physicians with Canadian Work Experience round on September 3, 2026, which issued 229 invitations. The other physicians round, on June 24, had a cut-off of 223. Those rounds ranked only candidates who met that category's requirements, so the figure says nothing about cut-offs in other round types.

Part of our Express Entry guide: programs, requirements, CRS, profile, draws and fees.

Rules, rates and sources

Last verified: September 29, 2026
Next scheduled check: November 10, 2026

Rule or table	In effect from	Verified
Recent Express Entry rounds of invitations	October 1, 2026	October 11, 2026
How Express Entry rounds of invitations work - round types, CRS cut-off, tie-breaking rule and invitation deadlines	July 10, 2026	October 11, 2026
Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System points grid	March 25, 2025	September 29, 2026

Official sources

IRCC Express Entry rounds of invitations data file (ee_rounds_123_en.json) - Canada.ca — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Express Entry: Rounds of invitations - Canada.ca — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Express Entry: Category-based selection - Canada.ca (who is invited in each round type) — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Express Entry: Create your profile - Canada.ca (keeping a profile up to date) — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Express Entry: Apply for permanent residence - Canada.ca (invitation valid for 60 days) — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Express Entry: Check your score - Canada.ca (score out of 1,200) — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Express Entry: Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria - Canada.ca — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Ministerial Instructions respecting the Express Entry system - current - Canada.ca — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

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