Round #444 invited 250 senior managers at CRS 389
IRCC held Express Entry round #444 on September 16, 2026 at 12:44:28 UTC. It issued 250 invitations in the Senior managers with Canadian Work Experience category, 2026 — Version 1. The CRS score of the lowest-ranked invited candidate was 389.
The tie-breaking rule was September 1, 2026 at 23:05:13 UTC. If more than one eligible candidate had the cut-off score, IRCC ranked them using the date and time their Express Entry profiles were submitted.
The senior-manager category has specific Canadian-experience rules
The ministerial instructions require at least one year of full-time Canadian work experience, or the part-time equivalent, acquired during the previous three years in one of four senior-management unit groups: NOC 00012, 00013, 00014 or 00015. The candidate must also have performed the lead-statement actions and a substantial number of the occupation's main duties, including all essential duties.
Unauthorized work in Canada does not count toward this requirement. The round covered eligible candidates under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program who also met the category rules; it did not include the Provincial Nominee Program grouping.
Round #443 issued 2,000 CEC invitations at CRS 519
One day earlier, IRCC held round #443 on September 15 at 10:21:41 UTC. The Canadian Experience Class round issued 2,000 invitations, and the lowest-ranked invited candidate had a CRS score of 519.
The published tie-breaking rule was March 26, 2026 at 00:16:39 UTC. This was a program-specific CEC round, so a candidate needed to meet Canadian Experience Class requirements in addition to reaching the applicable ranking threshold.
The two CRS cut-offs should not be compared directly
Together, the two rounds issued 2,250 invitations, but they selected different groups. The senior-manager category cut-off of 389 applied only to candidates who met the category's occupation and Canadian-work-experience rules, while the CEC cut-off of 519 applied to the broader CEC grouping used in round #443.
An invitation to apply is not permanent residence approval. Invited candidates should confirm that their profile, work history, NOC duties, language results, education and family information remain accurate before submitting the documents requested in their IRCC account.
This article is not legal advice. Immigration rules and program instructions can change, and the result depends on the facts of each case.