Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, IRCC, conducted an Express Entry draw on September 16 for senior managers with Canadian work experience. This draw issued 250 Invitations to Apply, ITAs, and featured a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System, CRS, score of 389. This marks the lowest CRS score recorded for this specific category to date.
The September 16 draw is the third for senior managers with Canadian work experience since the category's introduction in February 2026. The 250 ITAs issued are fewer than the 500 invitations from the previous senior manager draw in July, which had a CRS cut off of 392. The first draw for this category in March issued 250 ITAs with a CRS score of 429.
The senior manager category requires candidates to have at least 12 months of Canadian work experience within the past three years. This experience must be in one of four eligible senior management occupations, including business services, health, education and social services, trade and other services, and construction, transportation, production and utilities. The experience does not need to be continuous.
The CRS cut off for senior manager draws has fallen by 40 points since the category's first draw. This trend may suggest fewer eligible candidates with higher CRS scores remain in the Express Entry pool. Lower CRS cut offs are particularly beneficial for experienced professionals, as CRS points for age decline after age 29.
Candidates who received an Invitation to Apply in the September 16 draw have 60 days to submit their complete application for permanent residence. A tie breaking rule of September 1, 2026 at 23:05:13 UTC applied to candidates with a score of exactly 389. Profiles with scores below 389 will remain in the Express Entry pool for future consideration.
There is no guarantee that the next senior manager draw will have a similar or lower cut off, and the timing of future draws for this category is uncertain. Candidates can improve their scores through better language test results, additional Canadian work experience, assessed education credentials, or a provincial nomination, which adds 600 CRS points.