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The Visa Tales

123 snapshots since January 17, 2022

Is the Express Entry pool getting harder?

No, it is draining. The pool held 226,859 candidates on August 16, 2026, against 254,113 a year earlier: a fall of 27,254. It peaked at 257,557 on June 11, 2025 and sits 30,698 below that today, though not in a straight line: it climbed again through the spring of 2026 before falling back. Over the same year IRCC issued 178,043 invitations. A pool that shrinks against steady invitation volume is what pulls cut-off scores down.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Every figure is IRCC's own published distribution, across all 123 of them.

The whole record

Every pool IRCC has published, 2022 to today

One point per distribution, 123 of them. IRCC publishes the pool's shape beside each round of invitations, then replaces it; this is every one of those figures kept.
2023202420252026
The vertical axis starts at 190,000, not zero. Across a range of 195,895 to 257,557 a zero-based axis renders a flat line and hides the movement entirely. Peak 257,557 on June 11, 2025; low 195,895 on February 28, 2022; latest 226,859 on August 16, 2026.
Express Entry pool size at each of IRCC's 123 published distributions
As ofCandidates in the pool
January 17, 2022196,685
January 31, 2022197,660
February 15, 2022198,061
February 28, 2022195,895
March 14, 2022196,692
March 28, 2022200,924
April 11, 2022200,924
April 27, 2022203,773
May 9, 2022211,093
June 20, 2022220,674
August 2, 2022238,924
August 15, 2022238,947
August 29, 2022239,196
September 12, 2022238,273
September 26, 2022237,423
October 10, 2022235,120
October 24, 2022234,981
November 7, 2022233,619
November 22, 2022232,215
January 11, 2023243,255
January 18, 2023240,013
February 1, 2023239,415
February 15, 2023240,264
March 1, 2023243,374
March 15, 2023245,121
March 22, 2023240,146
March 29, 2023234,947
April 12, 2023231,119
April 26, 2023230,189
May 10, 2023225,388
May 24, 2023226,842
June 8, 2023222,166
June 27, 2023220,003
June 28, 2023220,003
July 4, 2023214,529
July 11, 2023209,263
August 1, 2023211,529
August 15, 2023211,356
September 19, 2023216,035
September 26, 2023214,000
October 10, 2023213,592
October 23, 2023214,873
December 5, 2023217,370
December 17, 2023208,638
January 9, 2024212,157
January 22, 2024213,526
January 30, 2024215,726
February 11, 2024211,273
February 27, 2024211,487
March 11, 2024211,220
March 24, 2024211,962
April 9, 2024216,167
April 23, 2024214,697
May 29, 2024224,404
May 30, 2024224,940
July 2, 2024222,547
July 16, 2024216,457
July 17, 2024215,735
July 30, 2024210,704
July 31, 2024210,521
August 13, 2024207,319
August 14, 2024207,960
August 26, 2024205,448
August 27, 2024205,137
September 9, 2024205,569
September 19, 2024207,762
October 7, 2024209,892
October 9, 2024209,317
October 21, 2024211,787
October 22, 2024211,780
November 11, 2024216,735
November 12, 2024217,500
November 17, 2024217,648
November 18, 2024218,167
December 1, 2024218,490
December 16, 2024221,310
January 7, 2025227,305
January 8, 2025227,763
January 23, 2025232,924
February 4, 2025232,713
February 5, 2025234,052
February 16, 2025234,644
March 3, 2025227,822
March 16, 2025236,909
April 13, 2025244,282
April 27, 2025246,673
May 12, 2025249,969
May 13, 2025250,082
June 1, 2025255,030
June 9, 2025256,653
June 11, 2025257,557
June 22, 2025256,754
July 6, 2025256,224
July 20, 2025256,914
August 5, 2025256,585
August 17, 2025254,113
September 1, 2025254,672
September 14, 2025251,630
September 28, 2025250,993
October 13, 2025248,342
October 26, 2025248,253
November 9, 2025245,706
November 23, 2025245,758
November 24, 2025246,656
December 7, 2025242,379
December 15, 2025237,302
December 14, 2025237,302
January 4, 2026236,554
January 19, 2026237,120
February 2, 2026238,920
February 15, 2026235,695
March 1, 2026232,534
March 15, 2026231,362
March 29, 2026230,186
April 12, 2026233,555
April 26, 2026234,452
May 10, 2026233,770
May 24, 2026238,847
June 21, 2026239,645
July 5, 2026235,127
July 19, 2026231,533
August 3, 2026229,100
August 16, 2026226,859
Today
226,859

August 16, 2026

A year ago
254,113

August 17, 2025

Change
−27,254

-10.7% of the pool

Invitations since
178,043

Issued over the same period

Where it moved

Which scores are filling, and which are emptying

The total is a mood until you know which end of the pool it moved at. Each band, today against a year ago, because a queue that shrank overall while your own score range grew has not got easier for you.
Express Entry candidates by CRS band, August 16, 2026 compared with August 17, 2025
CRS rangeAugust 17 2025TodayChangeShare of pool
601–1200188439+251 (+134%)0.2%
501–60022,93018,657−4,273 (-19%)8.2%
491–50012,40912,915+506 (+4%)5.7%
481–49012,34913,066+717 (+6%)5.8%
471–48017,03516,626−409 (-2%)7.3%
461–47017,33916,133−1,206 (-7%)7.1%
451–46015,87914,814−1,065 (-7%)6.5%
441–45015,11613,555−1,561 (-10%)6.0%
431–44016,22213,229−2,993 (-18%)5.8%
421–43014,63911,890−2,749 (-19%)5.2%
411–42014,48811,269−3,219 (-22%)5.0%
401–41013,45510,688−2,767 (-21%)4.7%
351–40053,46148,600−4,861 (-9%)21.4%
301–35020,42417,269−3,155 (-15%)7.6%
0–3008,1797,709−470 (-6%)3.4%

601–1200 grew fastest, from 188 to 439, +251. Growth in a band while the pool shrinks overall means competition is concentrating there, not that the queue got longer.

411–420 fell most, from 14,488 to 11,269, −3,219. Candidates leave a band in two ways: invited, or their profile expires at twelve months.

Where these come from

The record, and the one place it disagrees with itself

Every figure here is Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s own published distribution, reproduced without adjustment. That includes one date where their arithmetic does not reconcile.

IRCC publishes the pool as 15 bands with a stated total, alongside each round of invitations. We keep every distribution rather than only the current one, which is what makes the series above possible, and there are 123 distinct snapshots between January 17, 2022 and August 16, 2026.

April 26, 2023. The bands published for this date sum to 230,009, while the stated total is 230,189, a difference of 180. The 451–500 subtotal appears to be a digit transposition, and the grand total carries it forward. Every other subtotal on that date reconciles exactly, as do the other 122 snapshots. The chart uses IRCC’s published total, not our own sum: this page reproduces the official figure and says where it is unreliable rather than quietly correcting a government department’s arithmetic.

Data: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Complete through round #437, 19 Aug 2026.

The latest draw and where you standAll 438 rounds

Free CRS assessment

A draining pool is only good news if you are in it.

The queue is 27,254 shorter than a year ago and cut-offs have followed. What that is worth to you depends on which band you are in, which category you qualify for, and how long your profile has left before it expires.

Send us your score and we will come back with the routes genuinely open to you. No charge, and we will say so if the honest answer is to wait.

Read and checked by Jay Sharma, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant R710507, licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.

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