Why can't the draw #415 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 798 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 198. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 798 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 380 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 11 May 2026

Express Entry draw #415

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #415?

The cut-off for round #415, held on 11 May 2026, was 798. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 380 invitations to apply, 3 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 798 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at January 07, 2026 at 05:23:31 UTC.

On 11 May 2026, IRCC issued 380 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 798 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 3 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. That was the 24th lowest of the 27 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 10,935 invitations at cut-offs between 699 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 798 here is roughly 198 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 #415 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

798

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #412 on 27 Apr 2026 at 795 (+3)

380
Invitations issued: #415
Round: 11 May 2026
Date: January 07, 2026
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 798 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at January 07, 2026 at 05:23:31 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: 233,770 candidates on May 10, 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 May 10, 2026, against the 798 cut-off of round #415
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	372	0.2%
501–600	15,659	6.7%
451–500	74,300	31.8%
401–450	64,614	27.6%
351–400	52,286	22.4%
301–350	18,247	7.8%
0–300	8,292	3.5%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 798 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 198 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 798 and it would report that not one of 233,770 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 380 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 11 May 2026

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 24th lowest of 27.

798

699
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 27
Rounds: 10,935
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #415 was held on 11 May 2026. IRCC has run 23 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 798.

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 #415, 11 May 2026; pool as published on May 10, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds