The July 20-23, 2026 batch is notable less for its largest round than for its smallest. Round 430, a Skilled Military Recruits round, invited just 4 candidates at a cut-off of CRS 368, one of the narrowest rounds tracked on this site. It closed a batch that otherwise followed the pattern seen through the summer: a Provincial Nominee Program round, a Canadian Experience Class round, and a French-Language proficiency round.
Round 427 opened the batch with 511 PNP invitations at a cut-off of 744. Round 428 followed with 2,000 Canadian Experience Class invitations at 516, and round 429 issued 5,000 invitations under French-Language proficiency at a cut-off of 399, the largest volume of the four rounds.
For candidates checking where their own CRS would have stood in any of these four rounds, the CRS calculator and the live draw table cover this batch and every one before it.
| Round | Date | Category | Invitations | CRS cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #427 | July 20, 2026 | Provincial Nominee Program | 511 | 744 |
| #428 | July 21, 2026 | Canadian Experience Class | 2,000 | 516 |
| #429 | July 22, 2026 | French-Language proficiency | 5,000 | 399 |
| #430 | July 23, 2026 | Skilled Military Recruits | 4 | 368 |
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
#427 · 511 ITAs
744
CEC
#428 · 2,000 ITAs
516
French
#429 · 5,000 ITAs
399
Military
#430 · 4 ITAs
368
600 points is what a provincial nomination adds on its own.
- Provincial nomination
- General programme round
- Category-based selection
Why a 4-invitation round still matters
Round 430's Skilled Military Recruits draw invited only 4 candidates, a volume so small it is easy to dismiss, but it illustrates an important point about category rounds generally: the number of invitations in a round is set by the size of the eligible pool and IRCC's operational needs for that category at that moment, not by a fixed schedule. A category with very few eligible candidates in the pool at a given time will produce a small round regardless of the cut-off.
The cut-off of 368 for this round should be read in that light. It says something about the small number of candidates who applied and met the Skilled Military Recruits criteria at that moment, not about competitiveness in the way a 5,000-invitation round would. Candidates eligible for this category should not extrapolate broader trends from a single round of this size.
French-Language proficiency at 399: the batch's main opportunity
Round 429 issued 5,000 invitations at CRS 399, comfortably the largest round in this batch by volume and a cut-off well below both PNP and CEC. Category rounds for French-language proficiency draw only from candidates meeting the category's French-ability requirement, so this figure reflects competition within that specific segment of the pool.
A candidate with strong French skills whose CRS falls short of 516 (this batch's CEC cut-off) has a meaningfully different set of odds in this category. Confirming eligibility means converting test results to CLB and checking against the category's published threshold rather than assuming a raw CRS comparison applies.
CEC at 516 and PNP at 744
Round 428's CEC cut-off of 516 on 2,000 invitations sits within the range this category has held for most of the summer. With arranged employment points no longer part of the CRS since March 2025, this figure reflects age, education, language and Canadian work experience only, which makes it a comparatively stable number to plan around.
Round 427's PNP cut-off of 744 again reflects the 600-point nomination bonus rather than a general-pool score. A candidate without a provincial nomination gains no useful information by comparing their own CRS to 744; the relevant question for that candidate is whether they meet a specific province's nomination criteria in the first place.
Reading a mixed batch
This batch, spanning PNP, CEC, French-language and a very small military category round, reflects the same broad mix seen across recent batches: a general pairing of PNP and CEC alongside one or more targeted category rounds. Framed as an observation of the last several months rather than a claim about what comes next, the pattern suggests candidates should continue checking each batch for category rounds relevant to their own occupation or language ability, since round size and cut-off both vary considerably by category.
For most candidates without a nomination, category eligibility, or a qualifying military background, the CEC cut-off of 516 remains the single most useful number from this batch to track against their own score.
What to take from this round
- Round 430's Skilled Military Recruits cut-off of 368 came from a round of only 4 invitations; treat it as a data point about a very narrow pool, not a general benchmark.
- Round 429's French-language cut-off of 399 on 5,000 invitations is the most accessible route in this batch for candidates who meet the category's language requirement.
- Round 428's CEC cut-off of 516 remains the most stable reference point for candidates without a nomination or category eligibility.
- Round 427's PNP cut-off of 744 reflects a 600-point nomination bonus; check your own score with the CRS calculator before comparing it to any PNP round.
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.