| Quick Summary (TL;DR) :- Canada held an Express Entry Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw on September 28, 2026, inviting 733 candidates to apply for permanent residence. The minimum CRS score required was 725 — nine points lower than the previous PNP round on September 14 (which needed 734). This was Round 445 overall, and the 57th Express Entry round of 2026. It's the largest PNP round since June 22, when 955 candidates were invited, and the first Express Entry round of any kind in 12 days. 2026 running totals: 9,270 PNP invitations across 19 rounds, and 129,715 total Express Entry invitations across all draw types so far this year. The Express Entry pool stood at 229,904 candidates as of September 27, with only 728 holding a CRS score above 600. A provincial nomination adds 600 CRS points — meaning most candidates invited in this round had a base score of roughly 125 before their nomination was applied. Quebec does not participate in the federal PNP system; it runs its own skilled worker selection separately. |
What Happened in This Draw
If you're tracking Canada's Express Entry system, or you've been refreshing IRCC's rounds page hoping for good news, here's the clear picture of what happened on September 28, 2026.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued 733 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to candidates in the Express Entry pool who held a valid Provincial Nominee Program nomination. The cut-off score for this round was a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 725. Anyone in the pool with a provincial nomination and a CRS score at or above that threshold on the relevant date was invited to apply for permanent residence.
This was the 445th round of invitations since Express Entry began, and the 57th round held in 2026 alone — a reminder of just how frequently these draws happen, sometimes multiple times a month across different categories.
How This Round Compares to Recent Draws
Context matters a lot here, because a single number in isolation doesn't tell you much. This round issued 733 invitations, making it the largest PNP-specific round since June 22, 2026, when IRCC invited 955 candidates. It also followed a 12-day gap with no Express Entry rounds of any kind — the previous round was a senior managers draw held on September 16.
Compared to the most recent PNP round before it, held on September 14 with 576 invitations at a CRS cut-off of 734, this round's cut-off dropped by nine points, while the number of invitations issued rose by over 150. A slightly lower cut-off combined with more invitations generally suggests IRCC is working through a larger backlog of nominated candidates in this cycle.
Understanding the Tie-Breaking Rule
When multiple candidates share the exact same CRS score at the cut-off line, IRCC uses a tie-breaking rule based on the date and time each candidate submitted their Express Entry profile. For this round, the tie-break was set at September 17, 2026, 01:36:17 UTC. In practical terms, this means candidates scoring exactly 725 who submitted their profile before that specific moment were invited, while those with the same score who entered the pool afterward were not included in this particular round.
Why PNP Cut-Off Scores Look So High
If you've compared this round's 725 cut-off to other Express Entry draw types and wondered why it looks so much higher, here's the explanation: a provincial nomination adds a flat 600 points to a candidate's CRS score. That means a candidate invited at 725 in this round likely had a base score of only around 125 before their nomination was factored in — a relatively modest score on its own.
This is why PNP round cut-offs aren't directly comparable to Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws or category-based draws, where no such 600-point boost applies. For comparison, a CEC round held on September 15, 2026, closed at a cut-off of just 519 — illustrating how differently these draw types behave.
To be eligible for a PNP round at all, a candidate must already hold a nomination from a province or territory under the Express Entry-aligned stream of that province's nominee program, and must have formally accepted the nomination within their Express Entry profile. It's worth noting that Quebec does not participate in the federal Provincial Nominee Program; it selects skilled workers independently through its own program.
2026 Express Entry Numbers So Far
Zooming out, this round brings some useful year-to-date context. Across the 19 PNP rounds held in 2026, IRCC has issued a combined 9,270 invitations specifically through the Provincial Nominee stream. Across all Express Entry draw types combined, the September 28 round brings the 2026 total to 129,715 invitations issued over 57 rounds.
Meanwhile, the overall Express Entry pool continues to grow. As of September 27, 2026, there were 229,904 candidates waiting in the pool — up from 226,793 just two weeks earlier. Of that large pool, only 728 candidates held a CRS score between 601 and 1,200, underlining just how competitive scores above 600 remain, and how heavily provincial nomination continues to shape who actually gets invited.
What This Means If You're in the Express Entry Pool
If you already hold a provincial nomination, this round is a positive signal — cut-offs have eased slightly compared to two weeks earlier, and the volume of invitations issued was notably higher than several recent rounds.
If you don't currently hold a nomination, your realistic path into an Express Entry round runs through general or category-based draws instead, where cut-off scores tend to be significantly lower than PNP-specific rounds. It's worth reviewing your Comprehensive Ranking System score carefully, since relatively small, targeted improvements — in language test scores, additional education credentials, or Canadian work experience — can sometimes shift which draw type you realistically qualify for.
If you're trying to work out where your own profile stands, which draw type you're actually in range for, or whether pursuing a provincial nomination makes sense for your situation, that's exactly the kind of assessment worth doing properly before you commit time and money to a specific strategy — something we help candidates work through at LEAMSS.
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Note: Express Entry draw results, CRS cut-offs, and pool sizes change with every round and are published officially by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Always verify the latest figures directly through the Government of Canada's official immigration website, or speak with LEAMSS for guidance specific to your profile.
