How many candidates ranked above the cut-off in draw #396?

On February 15, 2026, the Express Entry pool held 235,695 candidates. 280 of them sat in score bands entirely at or above the 508 cut-off. A further 16,559 sat in the 501-600 band, which the cut-off runs through — IRCC does not publish scores at a finer resolution than these bands, so how many of that group cleared 508 is not knowable from the data.

Canadian Experience Class · 17 February 2026

Express Entry draw #396

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #396?

The cut-off for round #396, held on 17 February 2026, was 508. It was a Canadian Experience Class round and it issued 6,000 invitations to apply, 1 point below the previous Canadian Experience Class round 4 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 508 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at March 16, 2025 at 09:35:59 UTC.

On 17 February 2026, IRCC issued 6,000 invitations to apply in the Canadian Experience Class category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 508 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 1 point below the previous Canadian Experience Class round 4 weeks earlier. That was the lowest of the 15 Canadian Experience Class rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 46,500 invitations at cut-offs between 508 and 547.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #396 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

508

Canadian Experience Class

Previous Canadian Experience Class round: #392 on 21 Jan 2026 at 509 (-1)

6,000
Invitations issued: #396
Round: 17 Feb 2026
Date: March 16, 2025
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Canadian Experience Class

Candidates tied on 508 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at March 16, 2025 at 09:35:59 UTC — a profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

Where 508 fell through the pool

IRCC published the Express Entry pool’s shape alongside this round. On February 15, 2026 it held 235,695 candidates, and the cut-off ran through them here.

Express Entry candidates by CRS range on February 15, 2026, against the 508 cut-off of round #396
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool	Against the cut-off
601–1200	280	0.1%	All invited
Cut-off — CRS 508
501–600	16,559	7.0%	Split by the cut-off
451–500	73,609	31.2%	Below the cut-off
401–450	64,305	27.3%	Below the cut-off
351–400	53,650	22.8%	Below the cut-off
301–350	19,009	8.1%	Below the cut-off
0–300	8,283	3.5%	Below the cut-off

280 candidates sat in bands entirely at or above 508 — 0.1% of the pool.

A further 16,559 sat in the 501–600 band, which 508 falls inside. IRCC does not publish scores more finely than this, so how many of them cleared 508 is not knowable from the data.

In context

Canadian Experience Class rounds in the year to 17 Feb 2026

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

508

508
Lowest cut-off: 547
Highest cut-off: 15
Rounds: 46,500
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #396 was held on 17 February 2026. IRCC has run 42 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 508.

The latest draw and the current pool All 438 rounds

Free CRS assessment

Would this round have taken you?

The table above says where 508 fell through the pool. 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 #396, 17 February 2026; pool as published on February 15, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds