IRCC closed out the busiest week of Express Entry in 2026 with the draw thousands of nurses, pharmacists, and social workers had been waiting all year for. On June 25, 2026, it issued 4,000 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to Healthcare and Social Services candidates at a CRS cutoff of 475 — the fourth draw in four straight days, and the one that reaches into the part of the pool no other draw type can touch right now. At 475, this round sits 41 points below the Canadian Experience Class cutoff from two days earlier. For a healthcare worker stuck in the 470s, that gap is the whole ballgame.
What happened
On June 25, 2026 at 13:51:43 UTC, IRCC invited 4,000 candidates in the Healthcare and Social Services Occupations category with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 475, according to Immigration News Canada and CIC News, both citing the official IRCC rounds-of-invitations page. The tie-breaking rule selected profiles submitted before May 21, 2026 at 12:14:09 UTC — so a candidate sitting exactly at 475 needed a profile older than that timestamp to make the cut.
This was round #422 and the finale of an unprecedented four-day cluster. After 25 days of silence from late May through mid-June, IRCC ran a draw on each of June 22, 23, 24, and 25 — PNP, then CEC, then Physicians, then Healthcare. Together those four rounds issued 9,226 invitations, a deliberate catch-up after the longest pause of the year.
It's the second Healthcare and Social Services draw of 2026. The only prior one landed on February 20, also at 4,000 ITAs but with a lower cutoff of 467. That brings the category to 8,000 invitations across two rounds this year.
Why 475 is the number that matters for healthcare workers
Here's the thing that makes a healthcare draw different from a CEC draw: it can reach candidates a general round structurally cannot.
CEC draws in 2026 have never dropped below 507, and the June 23 CEC round cleared at 516. That leaves an enormous group of candidates — strong, employed, qualified people — sitting just under the CEC floor with no way through it. A category-based draw cuts a different door into the same pool. If your work is in one of the eligible healthcare occupations, you're ranked only against other healthcare candidates, and the cutoff drops to wherever that smaller line falls. On June 25, that was 475.
The pool data shows exactly how crowded that zone is. IRCC's June 21 snapshot counted 239,645 candidates in the Express Entry pool, with roughly 75,938 of them in the 451–500 CRS band — and about 17,318 clustered between 471 and 480. That's the single most congested stretch of the entire pool, and it's precisely where the 475 cutoff landed. A nurse or pharmacist at 475 got an invitation on June 25. The same person needed 516 to qualify through CEC two days earlier. That 41-point gap is the largest standing advantage any healthcare professional has in Express Entry right now.
One eligibility note worth repeating, because it trips people up: since IRCC's February 2026 category changes, the healthcare category requires 12 months of qualifying full-time work experience in the last three years — doubled from the old six-month rule. That experience can be Canadian or foreign, but it has to match one of the 37 eligible occupations, from registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to social workers, paramedics, medical lab technologists, and pharmacy assistants.
Healthcare and Social Services draws in 2026
Two rounds, both at 4,000 invitations. The cutoff drifted up eight points between February and June — a sign of how much pressure built in the pool during the spring slowdown.
| Draw Date | Healthcare ITAs | CRS Cutoff |
|---|---|---|
| February 20 | 4,000 | 467 |
| June 25 | 4,000 | 475 |
The 475 cutoff is the higher of the two, but don't read that as the category getting harder. It reflects a pool that kept filling through a quiet spring — the same accumulation that pushed CEC to its highs. The healthcare lane still clears 30–40 points below CEC, which is the only comparison that matters if you're choosing where to focus.
The four-day cluster
June 25 capped the densest week of Express Entry this year. Here's the full run.
| Date | Category | ITAs | CRS |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 22 | Provincial Nominee Program | 955 | 730 |
| June 23 | Canadian Experience Class | 4,000 | 516 |
| June 24 | Physicians with Canadian Work Experience | 271 | 223 |
| June 25 | Healthcare and Social Services | 4,000 | 475 |
Four categories, four days, 9,226 invitations. The June 24 physicians round — just 271 ITAs at a remarkable CRS 223 — is a niche draw for doctors, but the healthcare round that followed it is the broad one, covering 37 occupations. Stacked together, the week shows IRCC working through the pool category by category after the pause, rather than leaning on one big general draw. That brings 2026 to 34 Express Entry rounds and roughly 89,000 invitations since January.
What's expected next
French is the one category this cluster skipped. PNP, CEC, Physicians, and Healthcare all ran this week — but no French-language round, even though French draws have been the lowest-cutoff pathway of 2026, clearing as low as the 390s. If the pattern holds, a French-eligible round is a strong candidate for late June or the first week of July. (IRCC sets each round; this is a pattern-based estimate, not a schedule.)
The next healthcare round is harder to time. IRCC ran the two 2026 healthcare draws four months apart, in February and June, so there's no tight cadence to lean on — only the broad signal that healthcare remains a standing priority. If you're in the category and didn't get an invitation this week, the right assumption is weeks-to-months, not days. Keep your profile active and your language and credential documents current so you're ready whenever the next one lands.
If you got invited
You have 60 days from June 25 — until around August 24, 2026 — to submit a complete permanent residence application. A healthcare invitation triggers the standard Express Entry document list, plus one wrinkle specific to your field:
- Employment reference letters for every work-experience claim: title, duties, hours, dates, salary, on company letterhead. For healthcare roles, make sure the duties on the letter line up with the National Occupational Classification description for your occupation — this is the most-scrutinized part of the file.
- Valid language test (IELTS, CELPIP, TEF, or TCF), valid for two years. If yours expires before late August, retake it before you submit.
- Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) for any foreign degree, via an approved assessor.
- Police certificates from every country you've lived in 6+ months since age 18 — the slowest can take 8+ weeks, so start today with our country-by-country PCC guides.
- Immigration medical exam (IME) — book it now; panel-physician waits stretch into the summer.
- Don't confuse the federal invitation with a provincial licence. An ITA is a PR invitation, not authorization to practise. Licensing is regulated province by province and runs on its own timeline — start that process in parallel if you haven't.
If you weren't selected
You're at 460–474 in a healthcare occupation: you're within striking distance of a category that just cleared at 475. The fastest lever is a language retest — moving from CLB 8 to CLB 9 can add 20–30 points and could put you above the next healthcare floor.
You're below 460 in a healthcare occupation: focus on structural gains. A provincial nomination adds 600 points, and many provinces run dedicated healthcare streams. French-language ability, if you have it, opens a pathway that sits far below both CEC and healthcare.
Your work isn't in the 37 eligible occupations: the healthcare category won't reach you regardless of score — check the category list to confirm where you stand, then target the draw type that fits your profile, whether that's CEC, a provincial nomination, or French.
If you're a healthcare worker hovering in the 460s or low 470s, the single most valuable thing you can do before the next round is lock in your language score. Healthcare draws are clearing 30–40 points below CEC, which means you don't need a monster CRS — you need to clear the healthcare line, and that line moved to 475 on June 25. A jump from CLB 8 to CLB 9 across all four abilities is worth up to 50 points once you factor in skill-transferability bonuses. That's often the difference between watching the next healthcare draw and getting invited in it. Run your current score first, then see what one band of language improvement actually buys you.
CRS score check
Want to know where you stand after today's draw? Run the numbers: CRS Calculator | All Express Entry Draws | Healthcare Workers Immigration Guide | IELTS vs CELPIP | Express Entry Categories Explained
Sources
- Immigration News Canada — Latest Express Entry draw on June 25 sent 4,000 PR invitations
- CIC News — IRCC issues invitations to healthcare and social services workers in Express Entry draw
- IRCC — Express Entry rounds of invitations