Express Entry draws, 31 August to 6 September 2026

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada held four rounds of invitations in this week, issuing 6,291 invitations in total. Every one was category-based or program-specific. There was no general draw, which continues the pattern of the past two years: if you are waiting for a round open to everyone regardless of occupation, you are waiting for something IRCC has largely stopped doing.

The four rounds

What moved, and what it means

The provincial nominee round looks brutal, and is not

Draw 438 closed at 697, and a number that high frightens people who see it out of context. It should not. Everyone invited in a provincial nominee round already holds a nomination, and a nomination adds 600 points to your score on its own. Strip that out and the underlying scores are ordinary. The cut-off fell 63 points from the previous nominee round two weeks earlier, and invitations rose by 120 to 562.

The Canadian Experience Class doubled in size

Draw 439 issued 2,000 invitations, twice the 1,000 of the round before it, while the cut-off barely moved: 521, down two points from 523. Inviting twice as many people without the score falling tells you the pool is deep at that level. If you have a year of skilled Canadian work behind you and sit near 520, you are in genuinely competitive territory.

A physicians round closed at 198

Draw 440 invited 229 physicians with Canadian work experience at a cut-off of 198. That is the number to notice in this week. A score in the 190s would not come close in any general round, and it shows how far IRCC will lower the bar where the shortage is acute enough. Both figures fell against the equivalent round in June: 42 fewer invitations and 25 points lower.

Healthcare held its line

Draw 441 was the largest of the week at 3,500 invitations, down 500 from the June round in the same category, with the cut-off unchanged at 475. A category that repeats the same cut-off across months is a category with a stable pool, which makes it easier to plan against than one that swings.

What to take from this week

• Your occupation now matters more than your raw score. A physician at 198 was invited this week; a general candidate at 500 was not, because no general round was held.
• A provincial nomination remains the single largest lever available, worth 600 points, which is why nominee rounds close at numbers that look impossible.
• Category cut-offs are steadier than people expect. Healthcare has now closed at 475 twice in three months.
• One week is not a trend. Compare any round against the previous round in the same category, never against the round immediately before it, or you will be comparing unlike things.

Cut-offs move with every round, and the full history is the only honest way to read them. See every Express Entry draw since 2015

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