Why can't the draw #393 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 749 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 149. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 749 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 423 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 3 February 2026

Express Entry draw #393

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #393?

The cut-off for round #393, held on 3 February 2026, was 749. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 423 invitations to apply, 3 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 749 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at December 16, 2025 at 22:30:36 UTC.

On 3 February 2026, IRCC issued 423 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 749 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 3 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. That was the 15th lowest of the 26 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 12,105 invitations at cut-offs between 667 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 749 here is roughly 149 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 #393 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

749

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #391 on 20 Jan 2026 at 746 (+3)

423
Invitations issued: #393
Round: 03 Feb 2026
Date: December 16, 2025
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 749 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at December 16, 2025 at 22:30:36 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: 238,920 candidates on February 2, 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 February 2, 2026, against the 749 cut-off of round #393
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	423	0.2%
501–600	14,911	6.2%
451–500	74,811	31.3%
401–450	68,262	28.6%
351–400	53,276	22.3%
301–350	18,949	7.9%
0–300	8,288	3.5%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 749 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 149 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 749 and it would report that not one of 238,920 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 423 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 03 Feb 2026

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 15th lowest of 26.

749

667
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 26
Rounds: 12,105
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #393 was held on 3 February 2026. IRCC has run 45 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 749.

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 #393, 3 February 2026; pool as published on February 2, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds