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The Visa Tales

French-language proficiency · 19 August 2026

Express Entry draw #437

On 19 August 2026, IRCC issued 5,000 invitations to apply in the French-language proficiency category. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 382 on the Comprehensive Ranking System, 9 points below the previous French-language proficiency round 13 days earlier. That was the lowest of the 15 French-language proficiency rounds held in the year to that date, which together issued 77,500 invitations at cut-offs between 382 and 446.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Round #437 is reproduced from IRCC's official rounds feed and has not been edited.

Minimum CRS score

382

French-language proficiency

Previous French-language proficiency round: #433 on 06 Aug 2026 at 391 (-9)

Invitations
5,000
Round
#437
Date
19 Aug 2026
Tie-break
1 Mar 2026

Programs eligible

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

Candidates tied on 382 were separated by how long they had been in the pool. The tie-break was set at March 1, 2026 at 18:34:05 UTC. A profile submitted before that moment was invited, one submitted after it was not.

The pool that week

Where 382 fell through the pool

IRCC published the Express Entry pool’s shape alongside this round. On August 16, 2026 it held 226,859 candidates across 15 score bands, and the cut-off ran through them here.
Express Entry candidates by CRS range on August 16, 2026, against the 382 cut-off of round #437
CRS rangeCandidatesShare of poolAgainst the cut-off
601–12004390.2%All invited
501–60018,6578.2%All invited
491–50012,9155.7%All invited
481–49013,0665.8%All invited
471–48016,6267.3%All invited
461–47016,1337.1%All invited
451–46014,8146.5%All invited
441–45013,5556.0%All invited
431–44013,2295.8%All invited
421–43011,8905.2%All invited
411–42011,2695.0%All invited
401–41010,6884.7%All invited
Cut-off: CRS 382
351–40048,60021.4%Split by the cut-off
301–35017,2697.6%Below the cut-off
0–3007,7093.4%Below the cut-off

153,281 candidates sat in bands entirely at or above 382, or 67.6% of the pool.

A further 48,600 sat in the 351–400 band, which 382 falls inside. IRCC does not publish scores more finely than this, so how many of them cleared 382 is not knowable from the data.

In context

French-language proficiency rounds in the year to 19 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.
382
Lowest cut-off
382
Highest cut-off
446
Rounds
15
Invitations
77,500

Common questions

Round #437, 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 #437?

The cut-off for round #437, held on 19 August 2026, was 382. It was a French-language proficiency round and it issued 5,000 invitations to apply, 9 points below the previous French-language proficiency round 13 days earlier. Candidates who tied at 382 were ranked by the date they entered the pool, with the cut-off timestamp set at March 1, 2026 at 18:34:05 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 #437?

On August 16, 2026, the Express Entry pool held 226,859 candidates. 153,281 of them sat in score bands entirely at or above the 382 cut-off. A further 48,600 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 382 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 382 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 #437, 19 August 2026; pool as published on August 16, 2026.

Three fields · about 30 seconds

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