IRCC Issues 250 ITAs in Express Entry Draw for Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience, with a Minimum CRS Score of 389

By Vicky

Sep 17, 2026 | 3 min read

Canada held its third-ever Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience draw on September 16, 2026, which is also known as express entry draw 444 and the results reveal an unusual pattern: even as the CRS cut-off fell to a record low, the number of invitations issued was cut in half. It’s a combination that doesn’t show up often in Express Entry, and it says more about the shape of the eligible pool than it does about IRCC’s selection strategy.

Express Entry Draw 444 Highlights

Date and time: September 16, 2026, at 12:44:28 UTC
Category: Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1
CRS cut-off: 389
Invitations issued: 250
Rank needed: 250 or above
Tie-breaking rule: Candidates who submitted their Express Entry profile before 23:05:13 UTC on September 1, 2026, were prioritised where scores were tied

Three Draws, Three Very Different Outcomes

Since its introduction in February 2026, this category has now run three times: an initial round in March, a second round in July issuing 500 invitations at CRS 392, and now this September round issuing just 250 invitations at CRS 389. Invitation volume dropped by half between rounds while the score barely moved, falling only 3 points. That’s a strange combination. Normally, when IRCC cuts a draw’s invitation count sharply, the CRS cut-off jumps, because fewer spots means only higher-ranked candidates make it in. Here, the opposite direction held roughly steady, which points to something structural about this particular category rather than a shift in demand.

The Real Story Is Eligibility, Not Competition

The explanation lies in how narrow this category actually is. Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience requires at least 12 months of Canadian work experience in specific senior management occupation codes, NOC 00012 through 00015. That’s an extremely small slice of the Express Entry pool compared to categories like Healthcare or French-language proficiency, which draw from tens of thousands of eligible candidates. When IRCC set out to invite 250 candidates this round, it simply didn’t have to reach very deep into the ranked list to hit that number, which is why the score barely shifted even with fewer invitations issued.

A Category That Rewards Occupation Fit Over CRS Strength

This dynamic makes Senior Managers one of the more forgiving categories in Express Entry for candidates who qualify. A CRS score of 389 is low enough that a fairly ordinary profile, solid age, decent education, competent English, can clear it without needing a provincial nomination, a spousal points boost, or French-language ability. The bottleneck isn’t points; it’s whether a candidate’s Canadian work history actually falls under the right occupation codes. For a category built around executive-level experience, that’s a notably low bar.

What This Tells Us About IRCC’s Category Strategy

Small, narrow categories like this one reveal something about how IRCC is using category-based selection more broadly in 2026: not as a mechanism to flood the market with invitations, but as a scalpel aimed at very specific occupational gaps. With roughly two to three months typically passing between Senior Managers rounds, this category isn’t designed to run on a predictable schedule the way CEC or PNP draws do. It runs when IRCC decides the labour need calls for it, and the modest, fluctuating invitation counts across all three rounds so far reflect that irregular, targeted approach rather than any weakening enthusiasm for the category itself.