Between April 13 and 15, 2026, IRCC ran three Express Entry rounds. Round 409, a Provincial Nominee Program draw, issued 324 invitations at a CRS cut-off of 786. Round 410, a Canadian Experience Class round, issued 2,000 invitations at a cut-off of 515. Round 411, a French-Language proficiency round, issued 4,000 invitations at a cut-off of 419.
As in most batches, the PNP figure sits well above the other two because it draws from candidates who already carry a 600-point nomination. The Canadian Experience Class round, at 515, is the clearer reference point for a general profile, and the French-Language round demonstrates again how a category filter can move a large volume of invitations at a materially lower score.
This batch issued 6,324 invitations in total across the three rounds, keeping pace with the volumes seen in surrounding batches this spring.
| Round | Date | Category | Invitations | CRS cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #409 | April 13, 2026 | Provincial Nominee Program | 324 | 786 |
| #410 | April 14, 2026 | Canadian Experience Class | 2,000 | 515 |
| #411 | April 15, 2026 | French-Language proficiency | 4,000 | 419 |
Each bar is the lowest CRS score invited in that round. Invitation counts differ by orders of magnitude between rounds, so they are given as text rather than as a second axis.
PNP
#409 · 324 ITAs
786
CEC
#410 · 2,000 ITAs
515
French
#411 · 4,000 ITAs
419
600 points is what a provincial nomination adds on its own.
- Provincial nomination
- General programme round
- Category-based selection
The PNP cut-off of 786 and why it is not comparable to a general score
Round 409's cut-off of 786 belongs entirely to candidates who arrived at the draw already holding a provincial or territorial nomination. That nomination alone contributes 600 CRS points, so a candidate's remaining human-capital score, covering age, education, language and work experience, only needed to add roughly 186 points to clear this round. This is why PNP cut-offs consistently sit far above general and category rounds, and why they should never be read as evidence of what the wider pool requires.
Anyone weighing whether to pursue a provincial nomination can use the CRS calculator to see how much a 600-point boost would move their own current score, which makes it easier to judge whether a nomination pathway is worth pursuing relative to waiting for a general or category round.
Reading the CEC round at CRS 515
Round 410 invited Canadian Experience Class candidates down to a CRS of 515. This is a general round within the CEC pool, meaning no additional category filter applied beyond CEC eligibility itself. Since the removal of arranged-employment points from the CRS on 25 March 2025, a job offer contributes nothing to this score, so a candidate's position is set almost entirely by the factors they can document directly: age, education, first and second official language results, and Canadian work experience.
A candidate near 515 without a nomination or a category-eligible profile should treat this figure, not the PNP cut-off, as the relevant benchmark for a general Express Entry profile.
The French-Language round and the value of a category profile
Round 411 invited 4,000 candidates from the French-Language proficiency category at a cut-off of 419, close to 100 points below round 410's general CEC threshold. Category rounds draw only from within the pool of candidates who meet a specific criterion, in this case demonstrated French-language ability, which is why the cut-off can sit meaningfully lower while still clearing a large invitation volume.
For candidates with strong French test results who are not yet competitive in a general round, checking a language score's Canadian Language Benchmark equivalent using the CLB conversion tool is the practical first step to confirming category eligibility.
Movement across the surrounding batches
The batch before this one, closing April 2, 2026, ran a PNP round at 802, a CEC round at 509, and a Trades Occupations round at 477. Against that batch, the PNP cut-off eased from 802 to 786, the CEC cut-off rose slightly from 509 to 515, and the category round shifted from Trades Occupations at 477 to French-Language proficiency at 419, a different category entirely rather than a direct comparison. The batch that followed, closing April 29, 2026, kept the CEC cut-off close at 514 and ran another French-Language round, this time at 400.
These shifts are modest and consistent with the batch-to-batch variation seen across this year's rounds. A single batch rarely signals a lasting change in pool competitiveness; the live draw table is the better tool for tracking a trend across several consecutive rounds.
What to take from this round
- Round 409's PNP cut-off of 786 reflects a 600-point nomination and is not a benchmark for candidates without one.
- Round 410 invited Canadian Experience Class candidates down to CRS 515, the more relevant comparison for a general profile.
- Round 411 shows a French-Language proficiency category round clearing 4,000 invitations at CRS 419, well below the general CEC threshold.
- Use the CRS calculator to see your own score against these cut-offs and the CLB conversion tool to check category eligibility from a language test result.
Round numbers, dates, invitation counts and CRS cut-offs are IRCC's own, from their published rounds of invitations. The analysis is general information, not immigration advice, and reading it creates no consultant-client relationship.