Express Entry After the November 2026 Rescoring: No General Draws, Real Cut-Offs and High-Wage Job Offers

IRCC's published rounds list no general (all-program) Express Entry round and no STEM round between 6 August 2025 and 28 October 2026. All 96 rounds in that period were aimed at a defined group: Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates, provincial nominees, French speakers or a listed occupation. For an applicant in India, the group you belong to now matters at least as much as your headline CRS score. This post uses the draw data to show who is likely to gain from the new high-wage points. Our earlier post covers the rule change itself.

What the 2026 Rounds Looked Like

We read IRCC's rounds data file on 6 November 2026 and tallied the 65 rounds dated 5 January to 28 October 2026. A cut-off is the CRS score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited. All figures come from the scoring that applied before 3 November.

French and CEC rounds together account for almost four in five invitations. Provincial nominee rounds are frequent but small, and their cut-offs of 697 to 805 mostly reflect the 600 points a nomination adds.

Round size also moves the cut-off. Between August and November 2025, every CEC round invited 1,000 candidates and cut off at 531 to 534. From December 2025 most CEC rounds invited 2,000 to 8,000, and 2026 cut-offs settled at 507 to 523. The only 2026 CEC round of 1,000 invitations (18 August) had the highest 2026 cut-off, 523.

Who Is Realistically Invited Now

The 2026 rounds point to five routes to an invitation:

• Working in Canada with skilled experience. CEC rounds ran about every two weeks. CEC needs at least 1 year (1,560 hours) of skilled work in Canada in the 3 years before you apply, so it is closed to anyone who has not worked in Canada.
• Provincial nominees. Twenty-one rounds of 264 to 955 invitations.
• French speakers at NCLC 7 in all four abilities. Twelve rounds of 4,000 to 8,500 invitations. See our post on why NCLC 7 is now the shortest route to an ITA.
• Healthcare, trades and transport occupations. Seven rounds, open to candidates in Canada or abroad with 12 months of experience in the last 3 years in a listed occupation.
• Senior managers and physicians with Canadian experience. Small rounds of 229 to 500 invitations.

If you are in India, work outside the healthcare, trades and transport lists, and have no French and no provincial nomination, none of the 2026 rounds was aimed at your profile. STEM and education are on IRCC's category list, but the data shows no STEM round and no education round in 2026. For this group a high-wage job offer or a nomination matters most, and uncertainty is greatest.

How to Read a Category-Based Round

IRCC's description of category-based selection makes three points that change how the table should be read:

• Candidates must be eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades or Canadian Experience Class program and meet the category's own condition.
• IRCC ranks the eligible candidates by CRS score and invites from the top, so the cut-off belongs to the eligible group, not the whole pool.
• The conditions differ: NCLC 7 in all four French abilities for French; 12 months of experience in the last 3 years in one listed occupation for healthcare, trades, STEM, education and transport; and Canadian experience for physicians, senior managers and researchers.

A French cut-off of 407 and a CEC cut-off of 519 are therefore not scores on one ladder. They are the lowest ranks reached in different groups, so compare yourself with the groups you belong to. Our category-based selection page lists the occupations for each category.

A High-Wage Job Offer Versus Canadian Work Experience

IRCC scores the Labour Market Integration factor two ways and keeps the higher result. The experience route is work-length points (40 for one year up to 80 for five years or more, without a spouse) plus 20, 40 or 70 points for 12 months in high-wage occupations. The offer route is 50, 70 or 100 points for a valid offer in a high-wage occupation, with no LMIA. The cap is 150 points, or 140 with a spouse. Examples for a single applicant, from IRCC's tables:

Three conclusions follow. First, with no Canadian experience the offer is the only way to earn anything from this factor, and 50 to 100 points is large next to other levers: moving all four English abilities from CLB 7 to CLB 9 adds 56 core points for a single applicant, and French at NCLC 7 adds up to 62. Second, a single candidate with about three years at the middle level or above (about four with a spouse) already matches or beats the best offer, so an offer adds nothing. Third, the level depends on the NOC's national median wage, not the salary in your offer letter.

What Is Still Unknown

• The restart date. IRCC says rounds restart when the recalculation is complete and gives no date.
• Where cut-offs land. Everyone is rescored at once, so 2026 numbers cannot be compared directly with post-restart numbers.
• Whether general rounds return. The Minister sets categories each year and announces them in advance. The 2027 to 2029 levels plan sets Federal High Skilled admissions at 100,000 a year but names no categories.
• How often the high-wage list changes. IRCC's page does not say. The level on your invitation date is the one it keeps using.
• How offers without an LMIA are verified in practice. IRCC says it will still verify offers.

What an Indian Candidate Should Do Now

Frequently Asked Questions

Has IRCC held a general Express Entry draw in 2026?

No. Of the 96 rounds in IRCC's data from 6 August 2025 to 28 October 2026, none is a general (all-program) round or a STEM round. They were CEC, provincial nominee, French and occupation-category rounds.

Why are French cut-offs so much lower than Canadian Experience Class cut-offs?

IRCC ranks only the candidates eligible for each round, so each cut-off is the lowest rank reached within that group. French candidates compete with other French speakers and CEC candidates with others who have Canadian experience.

When will Express Entry rounds restart?

IRCC paused rounds from 3 November 2026 to recalculate every profile, which it said could take up to two weeks. Rounds restart when that is complete. No date is published.

Will cut-offs go up after the rescoring?

Nobody can say yet. Every profile is rescored at once, so candidates who gain high-wage points move up together. Compare your new score only with cut-offs published after rounds restart.

Is a high-wage job offer worth more than Canadian work experience?

IRCC counts only the higher of the two. An offer is worth 50, 70 or 100 points. Experience is worth work-length points plus up to 70 high-wage points, so a single candidate with about three years in a middle-level or top-level occupation already matches or beats the best offer.

I am in India with English only. What are my options?

In the 2026 data, no round type was aimed at a candidate abroad outside the healthcare, trades and transport lists with no French and no nomination. The levers are French at NCLC 7, a provincial nomination or a genuine offer in a high-wage occupation.