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CEC cutoffs have been sitting in the low 500s for months — is a general draw at my CRS ever going to happen?
raj_eeapplicant
My CRS is 495 with no PNP nomination. I keep seeing category draws at way lower cutoffs (400s) but I don't have French or a healthcare/trades background. Am I stuck waiting for a general draw?
💬 2 answers
This year IRCC has leaned heavily into category-based draws over broad general/CEC draws, and the general CEC cutoff has mostly been sitting in the low-500s. If your NOC doesn't map to one of the 2026 categories (French, healthcare, STEM, trades, education, physicians, senior managers, researchers, or skilled military), a category draw won't help you directly — a provincial nomination (+600 CRS) is the single biggest lever available to almost anyone, which is why the PNP boards here get so much traffic. Check the live numbers on our Draw Tracker (/tools/draw-tracker) before assuming where you stand — cutoffs shift roughly every two weeks. General information from my own experience, not legal advice — for anything specific to your file, a licensed RCIC or immigration lawyer can look at your actual documents.