Canadian Immigration Weekly
- Gagandeep Singh
- Aug 29
- 4 min read
This week brought a record-setting Express Entry all-time low CRS cut-off in a category draw, the first invitation-round watch for Ontario's redesigned Workforce Priority Stream, active PNP draws from British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, an important evidentiary tightening on citizenship-by-descent applications, and continued fallout from Ottawa's scaled-back 2026 immigration targets. Here is what you need to know.
Express Entry Draw Analysis
IRCC held two draws in the most recent cluster. On August 18, a Canadian Experience Class round issued 1,000 invitations at a Comprehensive Ranking System cut-off of 523 — the highest CEC cut-off recorded in 2026. The very next day, IRCC returned to its French-language category, issuing 5,000 invitations at a CRS cut-off of just 382, the lowest cut-off of any Express Entry category this year.
The French-language stream continues to carry an outsized share of 2026's invitations. It has now run ten rounds this year, and together with the Canadian Experience Class it accounts for the large majority of all Express Entry invitations issued so far. As of the August 19 draw, IRCC's year-to-date total stood at roughly 119,865 invitations across 49 rounds, keeping 2026 on pace to exceed prior years.
● CEC (Aug 18): 1,000 ITAs — CRS 523 (2026 high for CEC)
● French-language proficiency (Aug 19): 5,000 ITAs — CRS 382 (2026 low)
● Year-to-date: 49 draws, roughly 119,865 invitations issued in 2026
Context worth flagging for clients: the newly released 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan trims the planned Express Entry admissions target for 2026 from a previously anticipated 122,830 down to 109,000, and IRCC has stopped separately reporting CEC versus category-based volumes in its planning documents. That reduction, combined with a sharply higher Provincial Nominee Program target, is reshaping where the easiest pathways to an ITA now sit — increasingly through a provincial nomination rather than a general or CEC-only profile.
Provincial Nominee Program Updates
Ontario: Workforce Priority Stream
Ontario's rebuilt Expression of Interest portal for the Workforce Priority Stream has now been open since August 4, with all three pathways — TEER 0–3 skilled workers, TEER 4–5 essential workers, and self-employed physicians — accepting registrations. The province has allocated 14,119 nomination spaces for 2026 under the stream, the largest single-stream allocation in OINP history, and as of this week no invitation rounds have yet been issued. Candidates and employers who register early, and who make sure the employer side of the OINP Employer Portal registration is already complete, will be first in line once invitations begin.
British Columbia
BC's August 25 PNP Entrepreneur Immigration draw invited 16 candidates, continuing the province's steady cadence of smaller, targeted business-stream rounds this year.
Prince Edward Island
PEI's August 20 PNP round issued 181 invitations to in-province workers in priority sectors, under its Labour Impact and PEI Express Entry streams. Notably, the province has not yet issued a single invitation through its Business Impact (entrepreneur) category in 2026, a shift worth flagging for business clients weighing PEI against BC's more active entrepreneur stream.
Newfoundland and Labrador
NL issued 140 invitations on August 26 — 94 through the NLPNP and 46 through the Atlantic Immigration Program — the AIP's largest single round since March, a sign that Atlantic employers are continuing to lean on the program to fill positions.
Business Immigration News
The 2026–2028 Levels Plan confirms a 50% cut to federal business immigration admissions, down to 500 for 2026 — a significant contraction for the Start-Up Visa and self-employed persons programs and a reminder that provincial business streams, like BC's Entrepreneur Immigration category above, are carrying more of the load this year.
On the temporary side, Ottawa expanded low-wage Temporary Foreign Worker access for employers operating across multiple locations this week, giving qualifying multi-site employers more flexibility in how they staff lower-wage positions. We are reviewing the details and will share practical guidance for affected employer clients in an upcoming update.
Ministerial & Policy Statements
The most consequential development this week was not a speech but a quiet forms update. On August 25, IRCC revised its citizenship-by-descent application package — the CIT 0001 application form, the CIT 0014 document checklist, and the Guide 0001 instruction guide — to spell out, in far more detail than before, how a Canadian parent must document their 1,095 cumulative days of physical presence in Canada under the post–Bill C-3 rules for children born abroad on or after December 15, 2025.
The substantive change lives in the guide's evidentiary appendix, which now sets out the categories of acceptable proof, the quality standard documents must meet, and who may swear a supporting affidavit when records simply do not exist. Practitioners have already flagged an open question worth watching: it is not yet clear whether IRCC will accept applications prepared and signed on the prior version of the forms before August 25. We recommend clients with pending citizenship-by-descent files confirm they are working from the current forms before submission.
Week-Ahead Outlook
● Next Express Entry draw: following the roughly two-week cadence since August 19, the next round is plausible around early September.
● Ontario Workforce Priority Stream: watch for the first invitation round now that the EOI pool has had several weeks to build.
● Citizenship by descent: confirm any in-progress applications are using the August 2026 versions of CIT 0001 and CIT 0014.
● Federal business programs: expect continued client interest in provincial entrepreneur streams as the federal Start-Up Visa and self-employed programs operate at reduced capacity.
Immigration Tip of the Week
If you are a Canadian citizen born outside Canada and are planning a child's birth abroad on or after December 15, 2025, start documenting your physical presence in Canada now, not later. Under IRCC's August 25 guidance, acceptable proof includes things like employment and school records, tax filings, and lease or property documents — not simply a general recollection of time spent in the country. Gathering originals or clear colour copies while they are still easy to obtain will save significant time if your child later needs to apply for a citizenship certificate.
This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration policies and procedures can change; please contact Elgin Immigration at info@elginimmigration.com for advice specific to your situation.
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