Why can't the draw #383 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 729 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 129. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 729 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 1,123 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 8 December 2025

Express Entry draw #383

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #383?

The cut-off for round #383, held on 8 December 2025, was 729. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 1,123 invitations to apply, 30 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 13 days earlier. Candidates who tied at 729 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at March 05, 2025 at 05:10:48.

On 8 December 2025, IRCC issued 1,123 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 729 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 30 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 13 days earlier. That was the 7th lowest of the 24 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 11,584 invitations at cut-offs between 667 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 729 here is roughly 129 before the nomination — and it cannot be compared with cut-offs in any other category.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #383 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

729

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #380 on 25 Nov 2025 at 699 (+30)

1,123
Invitations issued: #383
Round: 08 Dec 2025
Date: March 05, 2025
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 729 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at March 05, 2025 at 05:10:48 — a profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

The pool behind this round

IRCC published the pool’s shape alongside this round: 242,379 candidates on December 7, 2025. No cut-off line is drawn across it, and that is deliberate — a Provincial Nominee Program score is not on the same scale as the rest of the pool. The reason is below the table.

Express Entry candidates by CRS range on December 7, 2025, against the 729 cut-off of round #383
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	1,110	0.5%
501–600	27,096	11.2%
451–500	68,679	28.3%
401–450	66,302	27.4%
351–400	52,344	21.6%
301–350	18,799	7.8%
0–300	8,049	3.3%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 729 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 129 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 729 and it would report that not one of 242,379 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 1,123 of them.

Only candidates already holding a nomination could be invited in this round, and the published pool does not identify them. The distribution is still worth seeing — it is the field this round was drawn from — but its scale and this cut-off are not the same scale.

In context

Provincial Nominee Program rounds in the year to 08 Dec 2025

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 7th lowest of 24.

729

667
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 24
Rounds: 11,584
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #383 was held on 8 December 2025. IRCC has run 55 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 729.

The latest draw and the current pool All 438 rounds

Free CRS assessment

Would this round have taken you?

The table above is the pool this round was drawn from. Whether your own score reaches a category, and what would move it — a language retake, a provincial nomination, 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 #383, 8 December 2025; pool as published on December 7, 2025.

Three fields · about 30 seconds