IRCC issued 250 invitations to apply on September 16, 2026, in Express Entry Round #444, a category-based draw for Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience. The minimum CRS score was 389 — the lowest cutoff recorded for this category since IRCC introduced it in February 2026, and 40 points below the category’s first-ever draw.
What Happened In IRCC’s Express Entry Draw #444 On September 16?
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada held its third category-based draw for Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience on September 16, 2026, at 12:44:28 UTC. The round, numbered 444, invited 250 candidates to apply for permanent residence with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score of 389. Anyone who submitted their profile on or before September 1, 2026 at 23:05:13 UTC and scored exactly at the cutoff was included under the tie-breaking rule; later profiles at the same score will need to wait for a future round.
This was the third time IRCC has run this specific category since launching it in February 2026, and the trend line is striking: each successive draw has needed a lower score to fill the same number of invitations, or fewer.
How Does This Compare To Earlier Senior Manager Draws?
The pattern becomes clear once you line the three rounds up side by side. The inaugural draw in March 2026 issued 250 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 429. The second round in July nearly doubled the invitations to 500, yet the cutoff still dropped to 392. September’s round returned to 250 ITAs and pushed the cutoff down again, to 389 — a full 40 points lower than where the category started seven months earlier.
A falling cutoff across a growing number of rounds usually means one of two things: either fewer high-scoring candidates are entering the pool for this occupation group, or IRCC is deliberately reaching deeper into the pool to meet its admissions targets for experienced managers. Either way, the direction favours candidates who might have assumed this category was out of reach.
Who Qualifies For The Senior Managers With Canadian Work Experience Category?
Eligibility rests on Canadian experience, not just any managerial background. A candidate needs at least 12 months of Canadian work experience within the past three years, in one of four eligible senior management occupation groups: business services; health, education and social services; trade and other services; or construction, transportation, production and utilities. That experience has to sit within a single eligible occupation, though it doesn’t need to have been continuous employment.
Because this is a category-based draw layered on top of the regular Express Entry pool, a candidate still needs a complete, valid profile in one of the three federal programs — Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class, or Federal Skilled Trades — before the category can select them.
What Should Candidates With Scores Near 389 Do Next?
If your score was above 389 and you qualify for the category, you should already have an invitation and now have 60 days to submit a complete permanent residence application. If your score landed exactly at 389, whether you were invited depends on when your profile entered the pool relative to the September 1 tie-break cutoff. If your score is below 389, your profile stays active and will automatically be considered in future rounds, including general Express Entry draws and any other category you qualify for.
For candidates sitting just under the line, a handful of levers tend to move the needle fastest: retaking a language test to push core points higher, adding a second official language, banking additional Canadian work experience (points continue to climb up to five years), or getting a foreign credential formally assessed if that hasn’t been done yet. None of these move as fast as a provincial nomination, which adds a flat 600 CRS points and all but guarantees an invitation in the next aligned draw.
A Score Just Below The Line
To make this concrete — purely as a hypothetical, not an actual client file — picture a candidate working as a construction manager in Alberta with 18 months of Canadian experience and a CRS score of 375. That score alone wouldn’t have cleared September’s 389 cutoff. But a provincial nomination aligned to Express Entry would add 600 points, taking that same profile to the top of the pool for virtually any draw. This is the kind of gap a PNP stream, rather than repeated language retests, is usually built to close.
Frequently Asked Questions
For most Express Entry categories, yes — general draws in 2026 have generally required scores in the 500s. A score of 389 is only competitive within the Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience category, which draws from a narrower, more experienced pool.
Three, as of September 2026: March, July, and September, together issuing 1,000 invitations since the category launched in February 2026.
Paid, full-time (or equivalent part-time) work in Canada, under a valid permit, in one of the four eligible senior management occupation groups, totalling at least 12 months within the last three years.
Yes. The category is based on Canadian work experience and occupation, not on holding a current job offer, although a valid offer can still add CRS points under the regular scoring system.
There’s no way to know in advance. IRCC has not announced a fixed schedule for this category, and cutoffs have moved based on how many eligible candidates are in the pool at the time of each draw.
The invitation expires and you would need to be invited again in a future draw to apply for permanent residence under Express Entry.
It adds 600 CRS points, which in practice puts a candidate at or near the top of the pool for the next relevant draw, but IRCC issues invitations based on rank, not on the nomination alone.
CRS cutoffs are moving fast across every Express Entry category, and the difference between missing a draw and receiving an ITA often comes down to a handful of points. Book a Express Entry eligibility consultation with ImmigCanada!