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The Visa Tales

French-language proficiency · 19 February 2025

Express Entry draw #337

On 19 February 2025, IRCC issued 6,500 invitations to apply in the French-language proficiency category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 428 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 38 points below the previous French-language proficiency round 11 weeks earlier. That was the 7th lowest of the 11 French-language proficiency rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 22,500 invitations at cut-offs between 336 and 478.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #337 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

428

French-language proficiency

Previous French-language proficiency round: #329 on 03 Dec 2024 at 466 (-38)

Invitations
6,500
Round
#337
Date
19 Feb 2025
Tie-break
10 Feb 2025

Programs eligible

Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program

Candidates tied on 428 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at February 10, 2025 at 16:41:38 UTC. A profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

Where 428 fell through the pool

IRCC published the Express Entry pool’s shape alongside this round. On February 16, 2025 it held 234,644 candidates across 15 score bands, and the cut-off ran through them here.
Express Entry candidates by CRS range on February 16, 2025, against the 428 cut-off of round #337
CRS rangeCandidatesShare of poolAgainst the cut-off
601–12007680.3%All invited
501–60021,2039.0%All invited
491–50013,6835.8%All invited
481–49013,2365.6%All invited
471–48015,8366.7%All invited
461–47014,0186.0%All invited
451–46013,1195.6%All invited
441–45012,6515.4%All invited
431–44013,7635.9%All invited
Cut-off: CRS 428
421–43012,5515.3%Split by the cut-off
411–42013,0285.6%Below the cut-off
401–41012,2295.2%Below the cut-off
351–40051,31521.9%Below the cut-off
301–35021,5189.2%Below the cut-off
0–3005,7262.4%Below the cut-off

118,277 candidates sat in bands entirely at or above 428, or 50.4% of the pool.

A further 12,551 sat in the 421–430 band, which 428 falls inside. IRCC does not publish scores more finely than this, so how many of them cleared 428 is not knowable from the data.

In context

French-language proficiency rounds in the year to 19 Feb 2025

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 7th lowest of 11.
428
Lowest cut-off
336
Highest cut-off
478
Rounds
11
Invitations
22,500

Common questions

Round #337, answered

Two questions this round gets asked, answered from IRCC’s own figures for it.

What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #337?

The cut-off for round #337, held on 19 February 2025, was 428. It was a French-language proficiency round and it issued 6,500 invitations to apply, 38 points below the previous French-language proficiency round 11 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 428 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at February 10, 2025 at 16:41:38 UTC, which means somebody sitting on exactly that score who submitted their profile after that moment was not invited. That tie-break is the part of a round most people never see, and it is the reason two candidates with identical scores can get different answers on the same day. It is also the argument for submitting a profile as soon as it is genuinely ready, since the ordering it creates costs nothing to be early in. The full record of this round, including the pool as IRCC published it that week, is set out on the rest of this page.

How many candidates ranked above the cut-off in draw #337?

On February 16, 2025, the Express Entry pool held 234,644 candidates. 118,277 of them sat in score bands entirely at or above the 428 cut-off. A further 12,551 sat in the 421-430 band, which the cut-off runs through. IRCC does not publish scores at a finer resolution than these bands, so how many of that middle group actually cleared 428 is not knowable from the published data, by us or by anybody else quoting a precise figure. What the numbers do support is a sense of the shape: how much of the pool was in contention, and how far the round reached into it. Anyone offering an exact count of candidates above a cut-off has estimated it. The bands as IRCC published them for this round are set out below, so you can read your own score against the same distribution the department did rather than against a summary of it.

Free CRS assessment

Would this round have taken you?

The table above says where 428 fell through the pool. Whether your own score reaches a category, and what would move it, whether a language retake, a provincial nomination or a spouse’s credentials, is a different question, and it is the one worth answering.

Data: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Round #337, 19 February 2025; pool as published on February 16, 2025.

Three fields · about 30 seconds

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