Canada has invited 733 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates to apply for permanent residence in an Express Entry round held on September 28, 2026. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score required was 725.
This was the 445th Express Entry round overall and the 57th of 2026. At 733 invitations, it is the largest PNP round since the 955 issued on June 22, and the cut-off is nine points lower than the September 14 PNP round, which invited 576 candidates at 734. It is also the first Express Entry round of any kind in 12 days, following the senior managers draw on September 16.
Full Details of the September 28 Provincial Nominee Program Draw
| Draw detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Round type | Provincial Nominee Program |
| Round number | 445 |
| Date and time | September 28, 2026 at 10:41:06 UTC |
| Number of invitations issued | 733 |
| CRS score of lowest-ranked candidate invited | 725 |
| Tie-breaking rule | September 17, 2026 at 01:36:17 UTC |
The tie-breaking rule means that candidates with a CRS score of 725 who submitted their Express Entry profile before 01:36:17 UTC on September 17, 2026 received an invitation. Candidates with the same score who entered the pool after that moment did not.
Provincial Nominee Program Express Entry Rounds in 2026
| Date | Invitations | CRS cut-off |
|---|---|---|
| September 28, 2026 | 733 | 725 |
| September 14, 2026 | 576 | 734 |
| August 31, 2026 | 562 | 697 |
| August 17, 2026 | 442 | 760 |
| August 4, 2026 | 507 | 768 |
| July 20, 2026 | 511 | 744 |
| July 6, 2026 | 534 | 708 |
| June 22, 2026 | 955 | 730 |
| May 25, 2026 | 334 | 805 |
| May 11, 2026 | 380 | 798 |
| April 27, 2026 | 473 | 795 |
| April 13, 2026 | 324 | 786 |
| March 30, 2026 | 356 | 802 |
| March 16, 2026 | 362 | 742 |
| March 2, 2026 | 264 | 710 |
| February 16, 2026 | 279 | 789 |
| February 3, 2026 | 423 | 749 |
| January 20, 2026 | 681 | 746 |
| January 5, 2026 | 574 | 711 |
Across those 19 rounds, IRCC has issued 9,270 invitations to Provincial Nominee Program candidates in 2026.
Express Entry in 2026 So Far
The September 28 round brings the 2026 running total to 129,715 invitations across 57 rounds.
As of September 27, 2026, there were 229,904 candidates in the Express Entry pool, up from 226,793 on September 13. Of those, 728 had a CRS score between 601 and 1,200.
Why PNP Cut-Offs Are So High
A provincial nomination is worth 600 additional CRS points. A candidate invited at 725 in this round therefore held a base CRS score of roughly 125 before the nomination was added. PNP cut-offs are not comparable to Canadian Experience Class or category-based cut-offs for that reason.
To be invited in a PNP round, a candidate must already hold a nomination from a province or territory under the Express Entry-aligned (“enhanced”) portion of that province’s Provincial Nominee Program, and must have accepted the nomination in their Express Entry profile. Quebec does not participate in the Provincial Nominee Program and selects its own skilled workers through the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés.
Full details of each round are published on the Government of Canada’s rounds of invitations page.
If you do not hold a provincial nomination, your route into an Express Entry round is a general or category-based draw, where cut-offs are far lower than in PNP rounds and vary widely by draw type (the September 15 Canadian Experience Class round closed at 519). Use our free CRS score calculator to work out your Comprehensive Ranking System score, see which draw types you are currently in range for, and identify which factors — language, education or Canadian work experience — would move you closest to an invitation.