Why can't the draw #391 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 746 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 146. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 746 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 681 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 20 January 2026

Express Entry draw #391

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #391?

The cut-off for round #391, held on 20 January 2026, was 746. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 681 invitations to apply, 35 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 746 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at November 19, 2025 at 04:09:11 UTC.

On 20 January 2026, IRCC issued 681 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 746 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 35 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. That was the 13th lowest of the 25 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 11,682 invitations at cut-offs between 667 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 746 here is roughly 146 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 #391 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

746

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #389 on 05 Jan 2026 at 711 (+35)

681
Invitations issued: #391
Round: 20 Jan 2026
Date: November 19, 2025
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 746 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at November 19, 2025 at 04:09:11 UTC — 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: 237,120 candidates on January 19, 2026. 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 January 19, 2026, against the 746 cut-off of round #391
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	677	0.3%
501–600	16,341	6.9%
451–500	72,714	30.7%
401–450	66,836	28.2%
351–400	53,221	22.4%
301–350	19,062	8.0%
0–300	8,269	3.5%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 746 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 146 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 746 and it would report that not one of 237,120 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 681 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 20 Jan 2026

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 13th lowest of 25.

746

667
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 25
Rounds: 11,682
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #391 was held on 20 January 2026. IRCC has run 47 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 746.

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 #391, 20 January 2026; pool as published on January 19, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds