Why can't the draw #403 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 742 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 142. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 742 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 362 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 16 March 2026

Express Entry draw #403

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #403?

The cut-off for round #403, held on 16 March 2026, was 742. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 362 invitations to apply, 32 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 742 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at October 05, 2025 at 20:35:25 UTC.

On 16 March 2026, IRCC issued 362 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 742 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 32 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. That was the 12th lowest of the 26 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 11,184 invitations at cut-offs between 699 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 742 here is roughly 142 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 #403 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

742

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #399 on 02 Mar 2026 at 710 (+32)

362
Invitations issued: #403
Round: 16 Mar 2026
Date: October 05, 2025
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 742 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at October 05, 2025 at 20:35:25 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: 231,362 candidates on March 15, 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 March 15, 2026, against the 742 cut-off of round #403
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	360	0.2%
501–600	13,039	5.6%
451–500	72,558	31.4%
401–450	64,638	27.9%
351–400	53,565	23.2%
301–350	18,903	8.2%
0–300	8,299	3.6%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 742 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 142 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 742 and it would report that not one of 231,362 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 362 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 16 Mar 2026

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 12th lowest of 26.

742

699
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 26
Rounds: 11,184
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #403 was held on 16 March 2026. IRCC has run 35 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 742.

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 #403, 16 March 2026; pool as published on March 15, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds