Why can't the draw #406 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 802 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 202. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 802 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 356 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 30 March 2026

Express Entry draw #406

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #406?

The cut-off for round #406, held on 30 March 2026, was 802. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 356 invitations to apply, 60 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 802 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at February 12, 2026 at 03:54:03 UTC.

On 30 March 2026, IRCC issued 356 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 802 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 60 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. That was the second highest of the 26 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 11,004 invitations at cut-offs between 699 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 802 here is roughly 202 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 #406 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

802

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #403 on 16 Mar 2026 at 742 (+60)

356
Invitations issued: #406
Round: 30 Mar 2026
Date: February 12, 2026
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 802 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at February 12, 2026 at 03:54:03 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: 230,186 candidates on March 29, 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 29, 2026, against the 802 cut-off of round #406
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	351	0.2%
501–600	11,648	5.1%
451–500	73,445	31.9%
401–450	64,782	28.1%
351–400	52,655	22.9%
301–350	19,007	8.3%
0–300	8,298	3.6%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 802 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 202 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 802 and it would report that not one of 230,186 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 356 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 30 Mar 2026

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

802

699
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 26
Rounds: 11,004
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #406 was held on 30 March 2026. IRCC has run 32 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 802.

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 #406, 30 March 2026; pool as published on March 29, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds