Between February 16 and 20, 2026, IRCC ran four Express Entry rounds. Round 395, a Provincial Nominee Program draw, issued 279 invitations at a CRS cut-off of 789. Round 396, a Canadian Experience Class round, issued 6,000 invitations at a cut-off of 508. Round 397, a Physicians with Canadian Work Experience round, issued 391 invitations at a cut-off of just 169. Round 398, a Healthcare and Social Services Occupations round, issued 4,000 invitations at a cut-off of 467.
The Physicians round is the figure most likely to surprise a reader unfamiliar with how category rounds work: a cut-off of 169 is far below every other round in this batch, and far below any general round on record. That is not an error or an anomaly in the pool's competitiveness generally; it reflects a very small, specifically defined occupational category where nearly every eligible candidate in the pool is invited regardless of their broader CRS score.
Across the four rounds, this batch issued 10,670 invitations, one of the larger combined totals in recent months, with the Canadian Experience Class round alone accounting for more than half of that volume.
| Round | Date | Category | Invitations | CRS cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #395 | February 16, 2026 | Provincial Nominee Program | 279 | 789 |
| #396 | February 17, 2026 | Canadian Experience Class | 6,000 | 508 |
| #397 | February 19, 2026 | Physicians with Canadian Work Experience | 391 | 169 |
| #398 | February 20, 2026 | Healthcare and Social Services Occupations | 4,000 | 467 |
Each bar is the lowest CRS score invited in that round. Invitation counts differ by orders of magnitude between rounds, so they are given as text rather than as a second axis.
PNP
#395 · 279 ITAs
789
CEC
#396 · 6,000 ITAs
508
Physicians
#397 · 391 ITAs
169
Healthcare
#398 · 4,000 ITAs
467
600 points is what a provincial nomination adds on its own.
- Provincial nomination
- General programme round
- Category-based selection
Why the Physicians round cleared candidates at CRS 169
Category rounds exist to select from within the pool on a specific criterion rather than on overall CRS rank. The Physicians with Canadian Work Experience category is defined narrowly by occupation, and the number of candidates in the pool who meet that definition is small relative to the general Express Entry pool. When a category has few eligible candidates, IRCC can invite a large share of them, sometimes nearly all of them, which produces a cut-off that looks unusually low next to a general round.
This is not evidence that the pool overall has become less competitive, and it should not be read as a general trend. It reflects the size and composition of one specific occupational category at one point in time. A candidate who does not work as a physician with Canadian experience gains nothing from this figure directly.
A 6,000-invitation CEC round at CRS 508
Round 396 is the batch's clearest general-pool benchmark, inviting 6,000 Canadian Experience Class candidates at a cut-off of 508. A round of this size reaches further down the ranked pool than a smaller round would, which is part of why the cut-off sits where it does. Since arranged-employment points were removed from the CRS on 25 March 2025, this ranking is built entirely from age, education, official language ability and Canadian work experience. Candidates near this threshold can use the CRS calculator to see which factor would move their score most.
Healthcare and Social Services at CRS 467
Round 398 issued 4,000 invitations from the Healthcare and Social Services Occupations category at a cut-off of 467, above the Physicians round but still well below the general CEC round. This category is broader than Physicians, covering a wider range of eligible occupations within the healthcare and social services sector, which is reflected in both the larger invitation volume and the higher cut-off relative to the narrower Physicians category.
Candidates working in an eligible healthcare or social services occupation whose general CRS score falls short of 508 should check the specific occupation list for this category rather than assuming healthcare work in general qualifies.
The PNP round and the batch-to-batch pattern
Round 395's cut-off of 789 reflects, as always, candidates who already held a 600-point provincial nomination before the round opened. The batch before this one, closing February 6, 2026, ran only a PNP round at 749 and a French-Language round at 400. Against that batch, the PNP cut-off rose from 749 to 789, and this batch replaced the French-Language category with Physicians and Healthcare rounds alongside a general CEC round, a considerably busier four-round batch than the two-round batch before it.
The batch that followed, closing March 5, 2026, ran a PNP round at 710, a CEC round at 508, a French-Language round at 397 and a Senior managers round at 429. The CEC cut-off held exactly flat at 508 between this batch and the next one, which is the more stable signal to watch on the live draw table across several consecutive updates.
What to take from this round
- Round 397's Physicians cut-off of 169 reflects a small, narrowly defined occupational category, not a general drop in pool competitiveness.
- Round 396 invited 6,000 Canadian Experience Class candidates at CRS 508, the most relevant benchmark for a general profile in this batch.
- Round 398 shows Healthcare and Social Services Occupations clearing 4,000 invitations at CRS 467; check the specific occupation list before assuming eligibility.
- Use the CRS calculator to compare your own score against the general CEC threshold, and follow the live draw table to see how category mixes shift between batches.
Round numbers, dates, invitation counts and CRS cut-offs are IRCC's own, from their published rounds of invitations. The analysis is general information, not immigration advice, and reading it creates no consultant-client relationship.