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The Visa Tales

French-language proficiency · 6 August 2026

Express Entry draw #433

On 6 August 2026, IRCC issued 5,000 invitations to apply in the French-language proficiency category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 391 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 8 points below the previous French-language proficiency round 2 weeks earlier. That was the lowest of the 15 French-language proficiency rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 75,000 invitations at cut-offs between 391 and 481.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #433 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

391

French-language proficiency

Previous French-language proficiency round: #429 on 22 Jul 2026 at 399 (-8)

Invitations
5,000
Round
#433
Date
06 Aug 2026
Tie-break
18 Mar 2026

Programs eligible

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

Candidates tied on 391 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at March 18, 2026 at 23:32:40 UTC. A profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

Where 391 fell through the pool

IRCC published the Express Entry pool’s shape alongside this round. On August 3, 2026 it held 229,100 candidates across 15 score bands, and the cut-off ran through them here.
Express Entry candidates by CRS range on August 3, 2026, against the 391 cut-off of round #433
CRS rangeCandidatesShare of poolAgainst the cut-off
601–12005000.2%All invited
501–60019,7058.6%All invited
491–50012,9395.6%All invited
481–49012,8905.6%All invited
471–48016,3687.1%All invited
461–47016,0577.0%All invited
451–46014,8456.5%All invited
441–45013,5955.9%All invited
431–44013,2675.8%All invited
421–43011,9425.2%All invited
411–42011,3264.9%All invited
401–41010,7754.7%All invited
Cut-off: CRS 391
351–40050,10721.9%Split by the cut-off
301–35017,1017.5%Below the cut-off
0–3007,6833.4%Below the cut-off

154,209 candidates sat in bands entirely at or above 391, or 67.3% of the pool.

A further 50,107 sat in the 351–400 band, which 391 falls inside. IRCC does not publish scores more finely than this, so how many of them cleared 391 is not knowable from the data.

In context

French-language proficiency rounds in the year to 06 Aug 2026

A cut-off means little on its own. Against its own category’s previous twelve months, this one was the lowest of 15.
391
Lowest cut-off
391
Highest cut-off
481
Rounds
15
Invitations
75,000

Common questions

Round #433, answered

Two questions this round gets asked, answered from IRCC’s own figures for it.

What was the CRS cut-off for Express Entry draw #433?

The cut-off for round #433, held on 6 August 2026, was 391. It was a French-language proficiency round and it issued 5,000 invitations to apply, 8 points below the previous French-language proficiency round 2 weeks earlier. Candidates who tied at 391 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at March 18, 2026 at 23:32:40 UTC, which means somebody sitting on exactly that score who submitted their profile after that moment was not invited. That tie-break is the part of a round most people never see, and it is the reason two candidates with identical scores can get different answers on the same day. It is also the argument for submitting a profile as soon as it is genuinely ready, since the ordering it creates costs nothing to be early in. The full record of this round, including the pool as IRCC published it that week, is set out on the rest of this page.

How many candidates ranked above the cut-off in draw #433?

On August 3, 2026, the Express Entry pool held 229,100 candidates. 154,209 of them sat in score bands entirely at or above the 391 cut-off. A further 50,107 sat in the 351-400 band, which the cut-off runs through. IRCC does not publish scores at a finer resolution than these bands, so how many of that middle group actually cleared 391 is not knowable from the published data, by us or by anybody else quoting a precise figure. What the numbers do support is a sense of the shape: how much of the pool was in contention, and how far the round reached into it. Anyone offering an exact count of candidates above a cut-off has estimated it. The bands as IRCC published them for this round are set out below, so you can read your own score against the same distribution the department did rather than against a summary of it.

Free CRS assessment

Would this round have taken you?

The table above says where 391 fell through the pool. Whether your own score reaches a category, and what would move it, whether a language retake, a provincial nomination or 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 #433, 6 August 2026; pool as published on August 3, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds

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