Between April 27 and 29, 2026, IRCC ran three Express Entry rounds. Round 412, a Provincial Nominee Program draw, issued 473 invitations at a CRS cut-off of 795. Round 413, a Canadian Experience Class round, issued 2,000 invitations at a cut-off of 514. Round 414, a French-Language proficiency round, issued 4,000 invitations at a cut-off of 400.
The PNP cut-off is the highest of the three by a wide margin, but as with every PNP round, it reflects candidates who already hold a provincial nomination worth 600 CRS points before the round opens. The Canadian Experience Class round is the more useful reference point for candidates comparing their own human-capital score, and the French-Language round shows how a targeted category can move a large volume of candidates at a much lower threshold.
Taken together, this batch issued 6,473 invitations across three programme types, continuing the pattern of PNP, CEC and category rounds running within days of each other that has held through most of this year's batches.
| Round | Date | Category | Invitations | CRS cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #412 | April 27, 2026 | Provincial Nominee Program | 473 | 795 |
| #413 | April 28, 2026 | Canadian Experience Class | 2,000 | 514 |
| #414 | April 29, 2026 | French-Language proficiency | 4,000 | 400 |
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
#412 · 473 ITAs
795
CEC
#413 · 2,000 ITAs
514
French
#414 · 4,000 ITAs
400
600 points is what a provincial nomination adds on its own.
- Provincial nomination
- General programme round
- Category-based selection
What a CRS of 514 in the CEC round means in practice
Round 413 invited candidates down to a CRS of 514 from the Canadian Experience Class pool. This is a general round in the sense that no category filter was applied beyond CEC eligibility, so the cut-off reflects a broad slice of the pool ranked purely on age, education, language ability and Canadian work experience. Since arranged employment points were removed from the CRS on 25 March 2025, a job offer no longer adds anything to that score, which means candidates now compete almost entirely on the factors within their own control.
A candidate sitting close to 514 without a provincial nomination or a qualifying category profile should treat this cut-off as the most directly comparable figure in the batch. The CRS calculator breaks a score down by factor, which makes it easier to see whether language test results, a second official language, or additional education would move a score meaningfully closer to this threshold.
Why the French-Language round cleared 4,000 invitations at CRS 400
Round 414 invited 4,000 candidates from within the French-Language proficiency category at a cut-off of 400, nearly 400 points below the PNP round and well under the general CEC round. Category rounds draw only from candidates who meet the category's specific criteria, in this case demonstrated French-language ability, which narrows the competition pool considerably and lets IRCC issue a large volume of invitations at a lower overall score.
For a candidate who is not competitive in a general round but who holds strong French test results, this is the more relevant comparison. Converting a language test score to its Canadian Language Benchmark equivalent is the first step in checking whether a profile qualifies for this category, since the category threshold is set by CLB level rather than by CRS score alone.
Movement against the previous batch
The batch before this one, closing April 15, 2026, ran the same three round types in the same order: PNP at 786, CEC at 515, and a French-Language round at 419. Against that batch, the PNP cut-off rose from 786 to 795, the CEC cut-off eased slightly from 515 to 514, and the French-Language cut-off fell from 419 to 400, a larger drop that let 4,000 candidates in rather than the fixed volume of prior rounds.
None of these movements is large enough to represent a shift in overall pool competitiveness. Candidates tracking their own position over time are better served by watching several consecutive batches on the live draw table than by reacting to any single round in isolation.
What to take from this round
- The round 412 PNP cut-off of 795 applies only to candidates who already hold a provincial nomination; it is not a benchmark for the general pool.
- Round 413 invited Canadian Experience Class candidates down to a CRS of 514, the most useful comparison point for a general profile with no nomination or category eligibility.
- Round 414 shows how a French-Language proficiency category round can clear 4,000 invitations at a CRS of 400, far below general-round thresholds.
- Compare your own score against these cut-offs using the CRS calculator, and check the live draw table to see how this batch fits into the recent sequence of rounds.
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.