Express Entry Statistics in Canada 2026 | CRS Scores, Draws, Invitations & Key Facts

Canada issued 149,409 Express Entry invitations in 65 rounds from January 5 to October 28, 2026, according to Immigration 2 Canada’s tally of IRCC data, ahead of the 113,998 issued in all of 2025. IRCC paused invitation rounds on November 3, 2026 to recalculate scores under a new Labour Market Integration factor, and the last round, #453, closed at a CRS cutoff of 477.

Express Entry in Canada 2026 – Introduction

Express Entry in Canada 2026 show a year of record invitation volume and sharply different scores by draw type. French-language and Canadian Experience Class rounds produced most invitations. Provincial nominee rounds carried cutoffs above 700, and category rounds for healthcare and trades closed in the 470s. A candidate’s CRS score matters, but the draw type they qualify for matters more.

The system changed again on November 3, 2026. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) added a new CRS factor, removed the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) requirement for qualifying job offers, and paused invitation rounds while it recalculated every profile. This report covers the draws, cutoffs, invitations, pool and rule changes. It is general information, not immigration advice.

Interesting Facts About Express Entry in Canada 2026

Express Entry Invitations, Full Years
2025 | ██████████████████████▌ 113,998
2026 | ██████████████████████████████ 149,409 (through Oct 28)

Source: Immigration 2 Canada, using IRCC ministerial instructions; IRCC CRS score distribution (October 25, 2026).

The year set a volume record. The 149,409 invitations through October 28 already beat the 113,998 issued in all of 2025. Canadian Experience Class and French-language rounds account for 118,250 of them, or 79%. IRCC has not held an all-program round this year.

The tracker computes the totals from IRCC’s round data, so treat them as a secondary tally. The pool figure of 228,724 is IRCC’s own. Scores ranged from 169 for a small physicians round to 805 for a provincial nominee round, which includes the 600-point nomination boost. As of November 13, 2026, no rounds had been recorded in November.

Express Entry CRS Cutoff Scores 2026: What Score Did Each Draw Need?

Latest CRS Cutoff by Draw Type (1 block = 20 points)
PNP           | ██████████████████████████████████████ 761
CEC           | ██████████████████████████ 519
Transport     | ████████████████████████ 477
Trades        | ███████████████████████▌ 476
Healthcare    | ███████████████████████▌ 475
French        | ████████████████████ 407
Senior mgrs   | ███████████████████▌ 389
Physicians    | ██████████ 198

Source: IRCC ministerial instructions, compiled by Immigration 2 Canada.

Cutoffs only compare within the same draw type. A Canadian Experience Class round never dropped below 507 in 2026 and peaked at 523 on August 18. French rounds ranged from 382 to 435, a gap of more than 100 points below the Canadian Experience Class. A score of 420 would not have cleared any Canadian Experience Class round this year, but it would have cleared most French rounds.

Provincial nominee cutoffs look extreme because every candidate in those rounds already holds 600 nomination points. The 761 cutoff on October 26 means the last person invited had a base score of about 161. Healthcare and trades rounds closed in a tight 467 to 477 band. Small categories such as physicians, senior managers and military recruits had the lowest cutoffs but invited few people.

Express Entry Invitations by Category 2026: Which Draws Issued the Most?

Invitations by Draw Type, 2026 (1 block = 5,000)
CEC + French combined | ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ 118,250
French only           | ████████████▌ 60,500
Healthcare            | ██▎ 11,500
PNP                   | ██ 10,814

Source: Immigration 2 Canada, using IRCC ministerial instructions, through October 28, 2026.

French-language rounds were the volume leader among single categories, with 60,500 invitations across 12 rounds. Canadian Experience Class and French rounds together made up 118,250 invitations. The provincial nominee program had the most rounds, 21, but a small invitation total of 10,814, because those rounds are typically a few hundred invitations each.

Healthcare held only 3 rounds but invited 11,500 people at cutoffs between 467 and 475. The largest single round of the year was a French-language round on February 6 that invited 8,500 candidates at 400. The largest Canadian Experience Class round came on January 7, with 8,000 invitations at 511.

Express Entry Invitations by Month 2026: When Was IRCC Busiest?

Invitations per Month, 2026 (1 block = 1,000)
Jan | ███████████████ 15.3k
Feb | ████████████████████ 19.6k
Mar | █████████████████████ 20,982
Apr | ████████████████ 15.8k
May | ████████ 8.2k
Jun | █████████ 9.2k
Jul | ███████████████▌ 15.5k
Aug | ████████████████ 15.8k
Sep | ███████████ 11.3k
Oct | █████████████████▌ 17,694

Source: Immigration 2 Canada, using IRCC round data. Rounded values are read from the tracker’s chart.

March was the busiest month, with 20,982 invitations across nine rounds. October followed at 17,694 across seven rounds. May was the slowest at about 8,200, and the tracker records a 28-day gap between clusters of draws from May into June. Summer picked up again, with July and August each at about 15,500 to 15,800.

Each month’s mix differs. January was dominated by Canadian Experience Class rounds, about 14,000 invitations. February leaned on French rounds, about 8,500. October was split among French, trades and provincial nominee rounds. Month-to-month totals therefore say more about which categories IRCC chose than about overall demand.

Latest Express Entry Draws 2026: What Did the Recent Rounds Look Like?

Invitations in Recent Rounds, Sep-Oct 2026 (1 block = 250)
Oct 27 French   | ████████████████████ 5,000
Oct 16 French   | ████████████████████ 5,000
Oct 1 Trades    | ██████████████ 3,500
Oct 15 CEC      | ██████████ 2,500
Oct 26 PNP      | ███ 792
Oct 28 Transport| ▌ 150

Source: IRCC ministerial instructions, compiled by Immigration 2 Canada.

October’s rounds came in clusters. Rounds #451 to #453 ran on three consecutive days. They delivered a provincial nominee round at 761, a French round at 407 and a transport round at 477. Cutoffs in that cluster ranged from 407 to 761, which shows how little a single cutoff says about overall difficulty.

The Canadian Experience Class held steady at 518 to 519 in the last three rounds. The October 1 trades round was the largest in the tracker’s record, at 3,500 invitations. IRCC does not publish a schedule, and the tracker says the median gap between clusters since July 2024 is 14 days. That is a base rate, not a forecast.

Express Entry Pool 2026: How Many Candidates Are Waiting?

Candidates by CRS Band, Oct 25, 2026 (1 block = 2,000)
351-400 | ████████████████████████ 47,911
501-600 | ██████████ 20,535
301-350 | █████████ 17,247
471-480 | ████████ 16,330
461-470 | ████████ 15,803

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, CRS score distribution of candidates in the pool, October 25, 2026 (selected bands).

IRCC counted 228,724 active profiles on October 25. The largest band is 351 to 400, with 47,911 candidates, or 20.9% of the pool. Only 787 profiles scored above 600, which in practice means they hold a provincial nomination. The 501 to 600 band held 20,535 candidates.

The pool has shifted over the year. The tracker reports it shrank from 231,533 in mid-July to 226,673 in late August, then rose again to 229,904 by September 27. IRCC does not say why, so new profiles and renewals cannot be separated. The pool figures change on IRCC’s own schedule, and the November recalculation will move candidates between bands.

Express Entry CRS Changes November 2026: What Is the Labour Market Integration Factor?

New CRS Points, Nov 3, 2026
Job offer, 2x median wage     | ████████████████████████████████████████ 100
Job offer, 1.5x median wage   | ████████████████████████████ 70
Job offer, 1.3x median wage   | ████████████████████ 50

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Comprehensive Ranking System criteria; Canada.ca backgrounder, Changes to Express Entry for high-wage occupations.

IRCC created a Labour Market Integration factor. It replaces Canadian work experience as a standalone core factor and adds points for high-wage jobs. A qualifying job offer is worth 100, 70 or 50 points, depending on the wage tier. Canadian experience in a high-wage occupation can add up to 70 points on top of the existing duration points. Candidates without a partner can reach 150 under the factor, and those with a partner 140.

Two practical changes stand out. An LMIA is no longer required for a job offer to count. And candidates get points for work experience or a job offer, not both added together, according to law-firm and immigration-news summaries. IRCC paused rounds while it recalculated profiles, a process it said could take up to two weeks. Cutoffs after the pause may differ from the 2026 ranges above.

Express Entry Canadian Experience Class 2026: How Did Cutoffs and Draw Sizes Move?

CEC Cutoff vs Invitations, Selected 2026 Rounds
Jan 7  | 511 | ████████████████ 8,000 ITAs
Mar 17 | 507 | ████████ 4,000 ITAs
Aug 18 | 523 | ██ 1,000 ITAs
Oct 15 | 519 | █████ 2,500 ITAs

Source: IRCC ministerial instructions, compiled by Immigration 2 Canada.

The Canadian Experience Class pattern is clear. Big early-year rounds, with 8,000 invitations on January 7 and 6,000 on February 17, closed at 511 and 508. As round sizes shrank, cutoffs rose. The lowest cutoff of the year, 507, came on March 17 in a 4,000-invitation round. The highest, 523, came on August 18 in a 1,000-invitation round.

Smaller rounds reach fewer candidates, so the last person invited has a higher score. The tracker notes that the 2026 range was 507 to 523 across 18 rounds, and no round dropped below 500. A candidate at 505 was never invited in this class in 2026. Past cutoffs do not predict future ones, particularly after the November scoring change.

Express Entry Provincial Nominee Draws 2026: How High Did PNP Cutoffs Go?

PNP CRS Cutoffs, Selected 2026 Rounds (1 block = 20 points)
May 25  | ████████████████████████████████████████ 805
Oct 13  | ██████████████████████████████████████▌ 772
Aug 4   | ██████████████████████████████████████ 768
Oct 26  | ██████████████████████████████████████ 761
Sep 14  | ████████████████████████████████████▌ 734
Aug 31  | ██████████████████████████████████▌ 697

Source: IRCC ministerial instructions, compiled by Immigration 2 Canada.

Provincial nominee rounds ran from 697 to 805 in 2026 across 21 rounds. The top score, 805, came on May 25 in a small round of 334 invitations. The lowest, 697, came on August 31, the only PNP round below 700 this year according to the tracker. Cutoffs reflect the 600 points that every nominee carries, so they are not comparable with other draw types.

Round sizes grew in the autumn. The October 13 round invited 752 candidates and the October 26 round invited 792, the largest in the table. Earlier in the year, rounds often invited fewer than 400. A larger round pulls the cutoff lower, but the October cutoffs of 772 and 761 stayed high because the pool of nominees stayed small. Only 787 profiles sat above 600 on October 25.

Express Entry 2026 vs 2025: How Did the Two Years Compare?

Rounds and Invitations, 2025 vs 2026 (1 block = 5,000 ITAs)
2025 | ██████████████████████▌ 113,998 (58 rounds)
2026 | ██████████████████████████████ 149,409 (65 rounds)

Source: Immigration 2 Canada, using IRCC ministerial instructions.

Volume rose across the board. The tracker counts 65 rounds and 149,409 invitations in 2026 through October, against 58 rounds and 113,998 invitations in all of 2025. French invitations climbed from 48,000 to 60,500. Canadian Experience Class cutoffs peaked at 547 in May 2025, and the 2026 high of 523 was lower.

Category use changed. Healthcare held 7 rounds in 2025 but only 3 so far in 2026, though each was large. Education occupations had two rounds in 2025 and none in 2026. New categories appeared in 2026, including physicians, senior managers, skilled military recruits and transport occupations, though each issued relatively few invitations.

Express Entry FAQ 2026

How Many Express Entry Invitations Were Issued in 2026?

149,409 invitations across 65 rounds from January 5 to October 28, 2026, according to Immigration 2 Canada’s tally of IRCC data.

What Was the Latest Express Entry Draw in 2026?

Round #453 on October 28, 2026, a transport occupations round with 150 invitations at a CRS cutoff of 477.

Why Did IRCC Pause Express Entry Draws?

IRCC paused rounds from November 3, 2026 to recalculate CRS scores after adding the Labour Market Integration factor. It said this could take up to two weeks.

What CRS Score Do I Need for Express Entry in 2026?

It depends on the draw type. Canadian Experience Class rounds needed 507 to 523, French rounds 382 to 435, and healthcare rounds 467 to 475.

What Was the Highest CRS Cutoff in 2026?

805, in a Provincial Nominee Program round on May 25. It includes the 600-point nomination boost.

What Was the Lowest CRS Cutoff in 2026?

169, in a physicians round on February 19 that invited 391 candidates.

How Many Candidates Are in the Express Entry Pool?

IRCC counted 228,724 active profiles on October 25, 2026.

What Are the New CRS Points for High-Wage Job Offers?

100, 70 or 50 points, depending on the wage tier. An LMIA is no longer required.

Which Draw Type Has the Lowest CRS Cutoff Among Large Rounds?

French-language proficiency, with a 2026 range of 382 to 435 and rounds of 5,000 or more.

Does Express Entry Publish a Draw Schedule?

No. IRCC does not publish a schedule, and a round is confirmed only when it publishes the results.

What Is the Express Entry Tie-Break Rule?

When more candidates sit at the cutoff score than there are invitations, IRCC uses the time a profile entered the pool. Only profiles submitted before the published timestamp are invited.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.