Why can't the draw #431 cut-off be compared with the Express Entry pool?

Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points. The 768 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate whose score without the nomination was roughly 168. IRCC publishes the pool at base scores, so placing 768 on that distribution would suggest nobody qualified, on a day it invited 507 people. Only candidates already holding a nomination were eligible for this round, and the published pool does not identify them.

Provincial Nominee Program · 4 August 2026

Express Entry draw #431

Q: What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #431?

The cut-off for round #431, held on 4 August 2026, was 768. It was a Provincial Nominee Program round and it issued 507 invitations to apply, 24 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 768 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at May 15, 2026 at 15:58:19 UTC.

On 4 August 2026, IRCC issued 507 invitations to apply in the Provincial Nominee Program category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 768 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 24 points above the previous Provincial Nominee Program round 2 weeks earlier. That was the 16th lowest of the 26 Provincial Nominee Program rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 11,802 invitations at cut-offs between 699 and 855. A Provincial Nominee Program cut-off includes the 600 points a provincial nomination is worth, so 768 here is roughly 168 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 #431 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

768

Provincial Nominee Program

Previous Provincial Nominee Program round: #427 on 20 Jul 2026 at 744 (+24)

507
Invitations issued: #431
Round: 04 Aug 2026
Date: May 15, 2026
Tie-break

Programs eligible

Provincial Nominee Program

Candidates tied on 768 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at May 15, 2026 at 15:58:19 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: 229,100 candidates on August 3, 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 August 3, 2026, against the 768 cut-off of round #431
CRS range	Candidates	Share of pool
601–1200	500	0.2%
501–600	19,705	8.6%
451–500	73,099	31.9%
401–450	60,905	26.6%
351–400	50,107	21.9%
301–350	17,101	7.5%
0–300	7,683	3.4%

Why there is no line on this table. A provincial nomination is worth 600 CRS points, so the 768 cut-off in this round belongs to a candidate scoring about 168 without it. The pool above counts everyone at their base score — draw a line at 768 and it would report that not one of 229,100 candidates qualified, on a day IRCC invited 507 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 04 Aug 2026

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the 16th lowest of 26.

768

699
Lowest cut-off: 855
Highest cut-off: 26
Rounds: 11,802
Invitations

Reading this today

This is a record, not the current bar

Round #431 was held on 4 August 2026. IRCC has run 7 rounds since, and the current cut-off for this category is not 768.

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 #431, 4 August 2026; pool as published on August 3, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds