Express Entry draw #397 was held on February 19, 2026, in the physicians with Canadian work experience category: 391 invitations to apply and a minimum CRS score of 169.
The numbers
| Date | February 19, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Round number | #397 |
| Round type | Physicians with Canadian work experience |
| IRCC label | Physicians with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1 |
| Invitations to apply (ITAs) | 391 |
| CRS cut-off | 169 |
How it compares
This is the first draw of this category inside the window this page covers, so there is nothing of the same kind to compare it against. The previous draw of Express Entry, of any kind, was 2 days earlier.
Widening out to the last 10 Express Entry rounds of every kind, cut-offs ran from 169 to 789.
What this round selects
Category-based rounds do not draw from the whole pool. IRCC picks one category and invites only the profiles inside it that meet the category’s own requirements, on top of qualifying for a federal program. This category selects profiles with Canadian work experience in the physician occupations IRCC designates for it.
Eligible occupations for this category
IRCC does not publish the occupations of the candidates it invited. It does publish the list of occupations eligible for each category: in this round, candidates with qualifying work experience in one of the following 3 occupations could be invited, subject to the round’s other requirements.
| NOC 2021 code | Occupation | TEER |
|---|---|---|
| 31102 | General practitioners and family physicians | 1 |
| 31101 | Specialists in surgery | 1 |
| 31100 | Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine | 1 |
Source: IRCC, category-based selection (page modified June 22, 2026). Occupation titles as IRCC publishes them.
What it means for your profile
Getting an invitation in this round took a CRS score of 169 or above, in the pool and inside the physicians with Canadian work experience category on February 19, 2026. Scoring under the cut-off changes nothing about a profile — it remains in the pool for twelve months and enters every round it is eligible for. No forecast is attached to these figures. A cut-off reflects the pool as it stood that day and the instructions in force, which is why we publish the record and leave the prediction out.
- Immigration evaluation — we work out your CRS score, check which programs and categories you are eligible for, and tell you what is missing. If your profile does not qualify, we say so before you pay.
- All Express Entry draws — the live history with charts and filters, updated as each new round is published.
Source: the rounds of invitations IRCC publishes, read automatically through our data service. GerCanada is a private consultancy and is not part of the Government of Canada.