Canada Express Entry September 2026: 33 Draws, Falling Scores, and Provincial Nominations

In September 2026, Canada held 33 permanent residence draws — 8 through Express Entry and 25 through provincial nominee programs — together issuing roughly 16,500 invitations.

In short

• The cutoff score for candidates with Canadian work experience fell to 518 — 16 points lower than a year ago.
• There’s been no general CRS rank-based Express Entry draw since the start of last year — invitations now go only by category.
• French-speaking candidates got no federal Express Entry draw in September for the first time in three months, though provinces still invited them.
• Ontario hasn’t run a draw in five straight months due to a reform of its provincial program.
• Candidates get about 60 days to apply after an invitation — it’s worth keeping a profile ready in advance.

How Canadian immigration works: Express Entry and Provincial Nominee Programs

Canadian permanent residence runs along two tracks — federal and provincial — and that distinction matters throughout this article. Federal immigration means programs run by the national government; invitations go out through the federal immigration authority, and once a person gets permanent residence, they’re free to settle anywhere in the country. The exception is Quebec, which runs its own selection system. The main federal system is called Express Entry.

Provincial immigration works differently: each province selects candidates to fill its own labor needs — Alberta looks for different occupations than Manitoba does. A province invites a candidate and issues a nomination — a recommendation for permanent residence. The final decision still rests with the federal authority, but the province expects the nominee to actually live and work there.

The two tracks frequently overlap: many provincial streams are linked to Express Entry, and a provincial nomination adds 600 extra points to a candidate’s Express Entry score — a mechanism this article returns to later.

There are far more immigration programs in Canada than most people expect: counting every federal and provincial program and stream together, the total tops 120 options. Each comes with its own requirements for occupation, language, work experience, and settlement funds.

Express Entry in September: how many invitations went out, and how requirements shifted

Express Entry held eight draws for Canadian permanent residence in September, issuing nearly 11,300 invitations. In August, the total was almost 16,000 — at first glance, it looks like the pace dropped by almost a third.

But that comparison hides a reshuffling between candidate categories. Of the 16,000 August invitations, 10,000 went to candidates with French-language ability, leaving fewer than 6,000 for everyone else. In September, the picture flipped: every draw that month ran without a French-language requirement — candidates in those categories received more than 11,000 invitations, nearly double the prior month’s total. Canada didn’t cut draws overall; it shifted focus away from French-speaking candidates toward other categories.

Swings like this aren’t random — they reflect the fact that immigration program requirements change constantly. British Columbia lowered the wage threshold in one of its streams for three months running, while Ontario closed several older streams over the summer and opened a new one. Advice from someone who immigrated to Canada a year ago often no longer applies: their stream may have closed, or the requirements may have changed. The reverse happens too — a pathway that was closed a year ago can be open now.

Canadian Experience Class cutoff: 518 instead of 534

Candidates with Canadian work experience received the most invitations in September: three draws of 2,000 each — 6,000 people total, more than in August. The cutoff score in these draws kept dropping every two weeks: 521 early in the month, 519 mid-month, and 518 by the end of September. For comparison, the mid-August cutoff was 523.

Since June, the score has stayed in a 516-to-523 range — September’s figures stay within that band, with 518 sitting near the lower end. A year ago, in September, this category saw only one draw, issuing a thousand invitations at a cutoff of 534. Now invitations are going out six times faster, and the cutoff is 16 points lower.

Now invitations are going out six times faster, and the cutoff is 16 points lower.

Occupation-specific draws: healthcare workers, executives, and provincial nominees

September’s largest draw targeted healthcare and social services workers: 3,500 invitations at a cutoff score of 475 — exactly the same as in June. A separate draw ran for physicians with Canadian work experience: available figures show 229 invitations at a cutoff of around 198, compared with roughly 223 in June. A low cutoff doesn’t mean anyone with 198 points qualifies — this category is limited to physicians who already worked in Canada, but for them, the path to permanent residence is currently wide open.

A low cutoff doesn’t mean anyone with 198 points qualifies — this category is limited to physicians who already worked in Canada

Senior managers with Canadian work experience received 250 invitations at a cutoff of 389. The threshold keeps falling: it was 392 in July and 429 in March — a 40-point drop over six months.

Candidates with a provincial nomination had two Express Entry draws in September. A nomination means a province has selected a candidate and recommended them for permanent residence; it adds 600 extra points, which is why the cutoff in this category is always especially high. In mid-September, 576 people were invited at a cutoff of 734; by month’s end, 733 more were invited at a cutoff of 725. Without the nomination bonus, these candidates’ scores ranged from 125 to 134. The late-September draw was the largest for provincially nominated candidates since June — a sign that provinces are actively nominating people.

How many profiles are in the Express Entry pool, and why there are no more general draws

At the end of September, the Express Entry pool held nearly 230,000 candidate profiles for permanent residence. Only about 22,000 of them scored above 500 — fewer than one in ten.

That ratio explains the logic behind the draws described above. Since the start of last year, Express Entry hasn’t run a single general draw that invites candidates purely by overall rank. Every draw now targets a specific group: an occupation, French-language ability, Canadian work experience, or a provincial nomination.

Since the start of last year, Express Entry hasn’t run a single general draw that invites candidates purely by overall rank.

For a candidate, this means a high overall score alone doesn’t guarantee an invitation — the real factor is whether you fit one of the currently active categories.

Provincial nominations: Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec

On September 10, Manitoba invited every candidate already working in the province’s healthcare sector — 233 people, with no score threshold at all. In the same round, 508 invitations went to graduates of local educational institutions, and on September 24 another 417 went to professionals in science and technical fields, including engineers and IT workers already working in the province. Overall in September, Manitoba issued nearly 1,300 invitations — up from fewer than 800 in August.

British Columbia issued nearly 1,200 invitations in September. The province runs a separate stream for high-wage specialists: selection there isn’t based on points but on the wage offered in a job offer, and the threshold has been falling for three months straight. It stood at $62 an hour ($125,000 a year) in June, dropped to $58 in July, $55 in August, and $52 an hour by September. This criterion accounted for 426 invitations in September.

Things got easier for healthcare workers in British Columbia too: the cutoff score fell from 96 in July to 84 in August and 76 in September — a 20-point drop over two months. In September, healthcare workers received 143 invitations, with another 182 going to early childhood educators and 104 to construction workers.

Alberta ran nine draws in September — more than any other province — issuing more than 1,100 invitations. The largest draw came early in the month: 575 invitations went to candidates already working in Alberta, and at the end of the month the same stream added another 113. Separate draws targeted healthcare workers, IT specialists, manufacturing workers, and agricultural workers. The cutoff for healthcare workers with an Express Entry profile fell to 62, down from 66 in early August.

Quebec ran just one draw in September, inviting 519 people — down from 780 in August. Cutoff scores in the main streams edged lower, but strong French-language ability remains a hard requirement for this province.

Provincial nominations in September: key figures by province

Table scrolls sideways

Province	Manitoba	British Columbia	Alberta	Quebec
Invitations in September	nearly 1,300	nearly 1,200	more than 1,100	519
Change vs. August	increase (was under 800)	—	—	decrease (was 780)
Number of draws	3	several streams	9	1
Notable feature	some invitations have no score threshold	wage-based stream, threshold falling for three months	most draws of any province	strong French required

French-speaking candidates, and the provinces that held no draws at all

French-speaking candidates received no federal Express Entry draw at all in September — the first time that’s happened in three months. The surprise is that July and August brought four consecutive draws of 5,000 invitations each, with the cutoff falling from 420 to 382 over that span.

A pause like this has happened before: there was no French-language draw in June either, followed by a single draw of 10,000 invitations in July. French-speaking candidates have no reason to panic — Canada’s official policy still aims to increase their share of newcomers outside Quebec, and a pause at the federal level doesn’t mean a pause across the board.

Provincial programs didn’t forget French-speaking candidates in September. New Brunswick issued them 251 invitations, Manitoba issued 27, and Quebec — which requires strong French to begin with — invited 519 people. So the pause was limited to the federal level; French-language ability remains one of the strongest assets for immigrating to Canada.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, hasn’t run a draw since April 30 — five straight months without a single invitation. The cause is a reform of the provincial program: over the summer, Ontario closed several older streams and opened a new one for priority occupations, which has been accepting profiles since early August. No invitations have gone out under the new stream yet.

Nova Scotia has also gone quiet on draws. The province doesn’t publish individual draw results, only monthly totals, and the latest available figures are from July — no numbers for August or September yet. Another Canadian province hasn’t run a draw for foreign skilled workers in more than two years.

The first October draw, and who won and lost in September

The first Express Entry draw of October targeted trade occupations: 3,500 people with trade experience were invited at a cutoff score of 476. For comparison, the previous draw for this category ran in April — 3,000 invitations at a cutoff of 477 — while a year earlier, in September, only 1,250 people were invited at a cutoff of 505. The cutoff for trade occupations has fallen almost 30 points in a year.

Who won in September

Candidates with Canadian work experience received the most invitations of anyone — 6,000 through Express Entry — and their cutoff score kept falling draw after draw. Healthcare workers came out ahead too: they got the largest Express Entry draw of the month, Manitoba invited healthcare workers with no cutoff score at all, and British Columbia’s cutoff for this category fell 20 points in two months. Candidates in Manitoba and New Brunswick received noticeably more invitations than in August, and British Columbia’s wage threshold for specialists dropped for the third month running.

Who lost

The biggest losers of September were candidates in Ontario: Canada’s most populous province hasn’t run a draw in five straight months. French-speaking candidates lost out only at the federal level — the provinces still delivered their share of invitations. Quebec, along with Newfoundland and Labrador, invited fewer people in September than in August: Newfoundland and Labrador’s invitations dropped to 236 from 470. But the biggest losers of all were Express Entry candidates with no special category to their name: without Canadian work experience, an in-demand occupation, French-language ability, or a provincial nomination, September simply passed them by. There hasn’t been a general draw open to everyone by rank since the start of last year.

After receiving an invitation, candidates typically get about 60 days to submit their application — it’s worth keeping an Express Entry or provincial profile ready in advance.

Frequently asked questions

What happens to the cutoff score if I submit my profile right now instead of waiting for a new draw?

The cutoff score is set only at the moment of a specific draw, not on the date you submit your profile. Your profile simply waits in the pool, and its ranking is recalculated with every new draw — so it’s worth keeping a profile active in advance, even if no matching category is running right now.

Can I get an Express Entry invitation without Canadian work experience, an in-demand occupation, or French-language ability?

Chances for such candidates are currently minimal: since the start of last year, there have been no general draws that invite everyone purely by rank — every draw targets a specific category. A high overall score without fitting one of the active categories doesn’t lead to an invitation.