Express Entry draw #398: healthcare and social services, CRS 467 — February 20, 2026

Express Entry round #398 took place on February 20, 2026. IRCC invited 4,000 candidates in the healthcare and social services category, with the cut-off landing at 467 CRS points.

The numbers

Date February 20, 2026
Round number #398
Round type Healthcare and social services
IRCC label Healthcare and Social Services Occupations, 2026-Version 3
Invitations to apply (ITAs) 4,000
CRS cut-off 467
Change vs. previous round of the same type −9 points
Days since the previous round of the same type 71 days

How it compares

That is 9 points below round #385 (December 11, 2025), whose cut-off stood at 476. Invitations went up by 3,000 (from 1,000). The gap was 71 days; the last 8 rounds in this category have averaged 42 days apart.

It sits inside the usual range for these rounds: the last 8 rounds in this category span 462 to 510 points, averaging 480. By volume it is the biggest of the set, which runs from 500 to 4,000 invitations. Widening out to the last 10 Express Entry rounds of every kind, cut-offs ran from 169 to 789.

What it means for your profile

Getting an invitation in this round took a CRS score of 467 or above, in the pool and inside the healthcare and social services category on February 20, 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. This page does not forecast where the next cut-off will land. Each round depends on how many profiles are in the pool at the time and on the instructions in force that day, so a past cut-off is a record, not a target.

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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 covers occupations in health care and social services.

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 37 occupations could be invited, subject to the round’s other requirements.

NOC 2021 code Occupation TEER
32104 Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians 2
31112 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists 1
32123 Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists 2
31201 Chiropractors 1
32111 Dental hygienists and dental therapists 2
31110 Dentists 1
31121 Dietitians and nutritionists 1
31102 General practitioners and family physicians 1
32101 Licensed practical nurses 2
32201 Massage therapists 2
33101 Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations 3
32120 Medical laboratory technologists 2
32121 Medical radiation technologists 2
32122 Medical sonographers 2
33102 Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates 3
31302 Nurse practitioners 1
31300 Nursing coordinators and supervisors 1
31203 Occupational therapists 1
31111 Optometrists 1
32129 Other medical technologists and technicians 2
31209 Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating 1
32109 Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment 2
32102 Paramedical occupations 2
31120 Pharmacists 1
33103 Pharmacy technical assistants and pharmacy assistants 3
32124 Pharmacy technicians 2
31303 Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals 1
31202 Physiotherapists 1
31200 Psychologists 1
31301 Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses 1
32103 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists 2
42201 Social and community service workers 2
41300 Social workers 1
31100 Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine 1
31101 Specialists in surgery 1
41301 Therapists in counselling and related specialized therapies 1
31103 Veterinarians 1

Source: IRCC, category-based selection (page modified June 22, 2026). Occupation titles as IRCC publishes them.

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.

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