Canada has invited 442 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates to apply for permanent residence in an Express Entry round held on August 17, 2026. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score required was 760.
This was the 435th Express Entry round overall and the 47th of 2026. PNP-specific rounds always produce the highest cut-off scores of any draw type, because every candidate in them already holds a provincial nomination worth an automatic 600 CRS points.
Full Details of the August 17 Provincial Nominee Program Draw
| Draw detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Round type | Provincial Nominee Program |
| Date and time | August 17, 2026 at 12:33:42 UTC |
| Number of invitations issued | 442 |
| CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited | 760 |
| Tie-breaking rule | August 7, 2026 at 18:01:56 UTC |
| Round number | 435th overall (47th of 2026) |
Candidates needed a CRS score of at least 760 to be invited. Where more than one candidate sat at 760, the tie-breaking rule applied: only those who submitted their Express Entry profile before 18:01:56 UTC on August 7, 2026 received an invitation.
That tie-break timestamp is just ten days before the round itself — an unusually short window. It indicates that a large number of newly nominated candidates entered the pool in the first half of August, most likely reflecting the heavy provincial draw activity seen across Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba earlier in the month.
How the 760 Cut-Off Compares
At 760, this round came in slightly below the August 4 PNP draw, which cleared at 768 with 507 invitations, and above the July 20 round, which issued 511 invitations at 744.
Because a provincial nomination is worth 600 points on its own, the practical difference between a 744 and a 760 cut-off is small: it reflects roughly a 16-point spread in candidates’ underlying human-capital scores, not a meaningful tightening of the program. Nominated candidates who have not yet been invited should expect to be picked up in one of the next PNP rounds.
Express Entry PNP Rounds in 2026
| Date | Invitations issued | Lowest CRS score |
|---|---|---|
| August 17, 2026 | 442 | 760 |
| August 4, 2026 | 507 | 768 |
| July 20, 2026 | 511 | 744 |
What a Provincial Nomination Does for Your CRS Score
An enhanced provincial nomination adds 600 points to a candidate’s CRS score. In practice this guarantees an invitation to apply in a subsequent PNP-specific round, since no unnominated candidate can realistically reach the scores these draws require.
Candidates pursuing this route need to be nominated by a province or territory under the enhanced (Express Entry-aligned) portion of its nominee program, and must already hold a valid Express Entry profile and be eligible for one of the three programs managed through the system. Details of each round are published on the Government of Canada’s rounds of invitations page.
If you are considering Express Entry, use our free CRS score calculator to work out your Comprehensive Ranking System score and see where you stand in the pool — and how much difference a provincial nomination would make to your total.