What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #402?

The cut-off for round #402, held on 5 March 2026, was 429. It was a Senior managers round and it issued 250 invitations to apply. Candidates who tied at 429 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at August 19, 2025 at 15:10:18 UTC.

How many candidates ranked above the cut-off in draw #402?

On March 1, 2026, the Express Entry pool held 232,534 candidates. 114,784 of them sat in score bands entirely at or above the 429 cut-off. A further 12,746 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 group cleared 429 is not knowable from the data.

Senior managers · 5 March 2026

Express Entry draw #402

On 5 March 2026, IRCC issued 250 invitations to apply in the Senior managers category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 429 on the Comprehensive Ranking System.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #402 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

429

Senior managers

250
Invitations issued: #402
Round: 05 Mar 2026
Date: August 19, 2025
Tie-break

Programs eligible

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

Candidates tied on 429 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at August 19, 2025 at 15:10:18 UTC — a profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

Where 429 fell through the pool

IRCC published the Express Entry pool’s shape alongside this round. On March 1, 2026 it held 232,534 candidates, and the cut-off ran through them here.

Express Entry candidates by CRS range on March 1, 2026, against the 429 cut-off of round #402
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool	Against the cut-off
601–1200	258	0.1%	All invited
501–600	14,031	6.0%	All invited
451–500	71,680	30.8%	All invited
Cut-off — CRS 429
401–450	65,868	28.3%	Split by the cut-off
351–400	53,727	23.1%	Below the cut-off
301–350	18,694	8.0%	Below the cut-off
0–300	8,276	3.6%	Below the cut-off

114,784 candidates sat in bands entirely at or above 429 — 49.4% of the pool.

A further 12,746 sat in the 421–430 band, which 429 falls inside. IRCC does not publish scores more finely than this, so how many of them cleared 429 is not knowable from the data.

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #402 was held on 5 March 2026. IRCC has run 36 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 429.

The latest draw and the current pool All 438 rounds

Free CRS assessment

Would this round have taken you?

The table above says where 429 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 #402, 5 March 2026; pool as published on March 1, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds