Guide
Express Entry draw history — CRS cutoffs by year
A cutoff is the CRS of the lowest-ranked person invited in that round — not a yearly pass mark. Mixing a 2023 general draw with a 2026 French round will give you a number that never applied to anyone. Read history by round type, then check the latest published list.
3
Kinds of rounds
General, program, category
2023
Category-based start
518
Latest CEC cutoff
29 Sep 2026
What a year of cutoffs actually means
IRCC chooses a round type, a number of invitations, and then walks down the ranked pool until that many eligible people have an ITA. The last person in is the cutoff. If two people share that score, the earlier profile submission wins. A 1,000-invitation CEC round and a 6,000-invitation CEC round in the same year will not cut in the same place.
Category-based selection began in 2023. From then on, a “CRS history” chart that ignores round type is mostly noise. The useful comparison is CEC-to-CEC, French-to-French, healthcare-to-healthcare. That is also why “what score do I need in 2026?” has several answers.
Official rounds, 2025–2026
Figures below are counted from IRCC’s published rounds through 1 October 2026 (round #447). The overall CRS range for a year is almost useless on its own — it stretches from physician-category scores in the 100s to nominated PNP scores in the 800s.
| Year | Rounds | Invitations | CRS range (all types) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 58 | 113,998 | 379 – 855 |
| 2026 (to Oct 1) | 59 | 135,215 | 169 – 805 |
2025 by round type
Fifteen CEC rounds sat between 515 and 547. French-language rounds issued the most invitations and cut much lower. PNP-only rounds look high because a nomination already adds 600 points.
| Round type | Rounds | Invitations | CRS range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Experience Class | 15 | 35,850 | 515 – 547 |
| French-language proficiency | 9 | 48,000 | 379 – 481 |
| Healthcare & social services | 7 | 14,500 | 462 – 510 |
| Education occupations | 2 | 3,500 | 462 – 479 |
| Trades occupations | 1 | 1,250 | 505 |
| Provincial Nominee Program | 24 | 10,898 | 667 – 855 |
2026 by round type (through Oct 1)
CEC cutoffs tightened into the low-to-mid 500s and invitation volume rose. French stayed the large, lower-cutoff lane. New 2026 categories — physicians with Canadian work, senior managers, transport, and a tiny military round — are why the yearly minimum dropped to 169. Published 2025–2026 rounds in this window have not included a general all-program draw.
| Round type | Rounds | Invitations | CRS range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Experience Class | 17 | 55,250 | 507 – 523 |
| French-language proficiency | 10 | 50,500 | 382 – 420 |
| Healthcare & social services | 3 | 11,500 | 467 – 475 |
| Trades occupations | 2 | 6,500 | 476 – 477 |
| Transport occupations | 1 | 300 | 470 |
| Senior managers (Canadian work) | 3 | 1,000 | 389 – 429 |
| Physicians (Canadian work) | 3 | 891 | 169 – 223 |
| Skilled military recruits | 1 | 4 | 368 |
| Provincial Nominee Program | 19 | 9,270 | 697 – 805 |
How to use this without fooling yourself
- Ignore a cutoff for a category your NOC or language results do not meet.
- Do not treat a PNP 740 as the score you need without a nomination.
- Job-offer CRS points have been zero for most candidates since 25 March 2025. Older histories that add LMIA points will overstate a current profile.
- A year-over-year “average CRS” hides round size. 2026 CEC has issued more invitations at slightly lower cutoffs than 2025 — that is volume, not a promise the next round stays at 507.
IRCC’s public JSON feed is a rolling window of recent rounds, not the entire 2015 archive. For anything older than this snapshot, use the official rounds page. Our news page refreshes from the same IRCC file after each sync.
Put your score next to the right list
Calculate CRS under today’s rules, then filter the draws page to CEC, French, or whatever category you actually qualify for.
Official sources
Figures and rules in this guide are checked against IRCC program pages. If anything conflicts, trust the government page.
History is a pattern. The next round is a decision.
We sync IRCC’s published rounds into the news page. This guide will not replace that list — it is here so the list makes sense.
Open draw historyCanadian PRLedger is a free tracking and calculator tool — not a law firm, not an RCIC practice, and not affiliated with IRCC. These guides summarize public program rules for planning purposes only. For case-specific advice, speak with a licensed immigration consultant or lawyer.