What “2026 Version 1, 2 and 3” Mean in Express Entry Draw Names

Updated 12 September 2026. The recent Express Entry record carries three different version labels: Physicians with Canadian Work Experience (2026 Version 1), French-language proficiency and Transport Occupations (2026 Version 2), and Healthcare and Social Services Occupations (2026 Version 3). The labels are not draw counts. Here is what they mark, and why a category’s definition can change within a year.

The three versions in the current record

Source: IRCC’s rounds of invitations page on canada.ca, where each category round links to the Ministerial Instruction it ran under.

Where the label comes from

Category-based selection has existed since 2023. Each category is created by a Ministerial Instruction that sets out an economic goal and defines who falls in the category: a list of occupations by NOC code and a minimum period of work experience, or, for French, a test result at a published level. When the Minister revises that definition, the revised instruction is published as a new version for the year, and any round run under it carries the version in its name. A label is therefore a pointer to a specific piece of text. “2026 Version 3” means the third published 2026 definition of the healthcare category was in force on 4 September; it says nothing about how many healthcare rounds have run.

Why the number is not a draw count

The coincidences in the table make the confusion easy. The healthcare round under Version 3 was indeed the third healthcare round of 2026, and the transport round under Version 2 was the second transport round of the year. The French category breaks the pattern: it has run rounds on 9 July, 22 July, 6 August and 19 August this year, at least four, under a label that reads Version 2. Versions count definitions; the rounds page counts draws.

Why a definition changes mid-year

A category exists to meet a stated goal, and the list of occupations attached to it is a policy instrument rather than a fixed fact. Occupations are added or removed, experience requirements are reworded, and the category is reissued. Each reissue resets which pool candidates fall in the group, which is why a category round under a new version can look quite different in size and cut-off from the previous one even when the category name has not changed. As this site noted in August, some published categories have been drawn repeatedly this year and others not at all; which ones run, and under which version, is a ministerial choice that becomes visible only when a round is published.

Why versions matter for reading cut-offs

A cut-off is the score of the last candidate invited from the filtered group, so when the filter changes, the numbers on either side of the change are not directly comparable. Two healthcare rounds closing at 475, on 25 June and 4 September, look identical on the page; whether they ranked the same group depends on whether the same version was in force, which the rounds page states for each. The habit this suggests is simple: read the version label alongside the cut-off, and follow the link to the definition rather than trusting a category name that may have meant something slightly different a few months earlier.

From a South African desk

For readers comparing their own occupation against a category list from South Africa, the version system is the reason a screenshot from a forum can be out of date without anyone lying. The list that matters is the one in the instruction currently in force, on canada.ca, and it can change between the time a profile is drafted and the time a round is run. Matching a person’s history against that list is not something this site does. Our guides section carries our longer explainer on how Express Entry works, and the move-to-Canada guide sets out the wider sequence. Any individual’s eligibility, score or strategy is regulated advice for a licensed RCIC or immigration lawyer, and the figures above can be verified on IRCC’s rounds of invitations page at canada.ca.