Express Entry PNP draw invites 752 candidates as cut-off climbs to 772
IRCC released the results of Express Entry round #448 on October 13. The draw was open only to candidates in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), and 752 of them received invitations to apply for permanent residence. The minimum score was 772, and all candidates ranked 752nd or higher were invited. The round took place on October 13 at 10:25:58.
A provincial nomination adds 600 points to a candidate's CRS score, which is why PNP-only draws consistently carry far higher cut-offs than other rounds. In practical terms, the 772 cut-off corresponds to a core score of roughly 172 points before the nomination bonus. Among candidates tied at the minimum score, only those who submitted their Express Entry profiles before July 15, 2026 at 13:57:33 received an invitation.
Key facts of the draw
- Round: #448
- Draw type: Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
- Invitations issued: 752
- Minimum CRS score: 772
- Date and time of round: October 13, 2026 at 10:25:58
- Tie-breaking rule: July 15, 2026 at 13:57:33
Cut-off rebounds as draw sizes keep growing
PNP cut-offs in September came in at 734 (September 14) and 725 (September 28). This round's jump to 772, a single-round increase of 47 points, produced the highest PNP threshold since the 805 recorded on May 25, edging past the 768 set on August 4 and the 760 on August 17. The lowest PNP cut-off of the year so far was 697, on August 31.
Draw sizes have been rising as well, with the last three PNP rounds inviting 576, 733 and 752 candidates. Across the year, the 11 PNP draws held from January to May issued 4,450 invitations in total, about 405 per round. The nine held since June 22 have issued 5,572, about 619 per round, a marked increase in the second half of the year.
| Draw date | Round | Invitations | Minimum CRS score |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 31, 2026 | #438 | 562 | 697 |
| September 14, 2026 | #442 | 576 | 734 |
| September 28, 2026 | #445 | 733 | 725 |
| October 13, 2026 | #448 | 752 | 772 |
Two-week PNP rhythm continues
IRCC has held a PNP draw roughly every two weeks this year, usually alternating with category-based rounds such as the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and French-language proficiency. The Express Entry draw immediately before this one was a Trade Occupations round on October 1, which issued 3,500 invitations with a minimum score of 476.
Including this round, IRCC has held 60 Express Entry draws in 2026 and issued 135,967 invitations. The 20 PNP draws account for 10,022 of them, or about 7% of the total. The largest shares went to the Canadian Experience Class (55,250) and French-language proficiency (50,500). That pattern reflects this year's emphasis on selecting candidates who already have Canadian work experience or a provincial nomination.
Under the federal 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan, the 2026 admissions target for the Provincial Nominee Program is 91,500 permanent residents. Nominations issued through Express Entry, known as "enhanced" nominations, make up only part of that total; provinces also nominate applicants through "base" streams that operate outside Express Entry.
What invited candidates should know
Invited candidates generally have 60 days to submit a complete application for permanent residence. Applicants already working in Canada whose work permits are about to expire may be able to apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP). While their applications are being processed, they may keep working under maintained status, provided they remain in Canada and continue to comply with the conditions of their original permit. Eligible family members may also qualify for open work permits.
Friendly reminder: There are many pathways to immigrate to Canada. We recommend first using UNA AI to generate an objective and neutral immigration plan, so you can gain an initial understanding of the possible immigration pathways and their requirements, and then choose to proceed with one-on-one consultations with a licensed Canadian immigration consultant partnered with UNA.
Express Entry PNP draw invites 752 candidates as cut-off climbs to 772
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held Express Entry round #448 on October 13, 2026, a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draw that issued invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residence to 752 candidates holding a provincial nomination. The lowest-ranked invited candidate had a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 772, and the tie-breaking rule was set at July 15, 2026 at 13:57:33. The round was the second-largest of the 20 PNP draws held this year, behind only the 955 invitations issued on June 22. The cut-off was 47 points higher than the 725 recorded in the previous PNP draw on September 28, and the highest for a PNP round since May 25, when it reached 805. Including this round, PNP draws have issued 10,022 invitations in 2026, out of 135,967 issued across all Express Entry draws this year.
10/14/2026
Canada's Permanent Resident Grants Fall 9.7% in First Seven Months of 2026 as Citizenship Mix Shifts
Canada granted permanent resident status to 222,625 people between January and July 2026, according to country-of-citizenship data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). That is 23,955 fewer than the 246,580 recorded over the same months of 2025, a year-over-year drop of 9.7%, although the pace of decline has eased since the first half of the year. Beneath the national contraction, outcomes diverged sharply by citizenship. PRs granted to Indian citizens fell by 15,405, a figure equal to 64.3% of the entire national reduction, even as India remained by far the largest country of citizenship. Turkish-citizen PRs jumped 185.2%, and Iran, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria, Uganda and Mexico also recorded strong gains, while France, Eritrea and several North African countries saw steep declines. The Philippines and Pakistan lost a little volume but gained share. The figures describe outcomes only; they are not country quotas and do not change any applicant's eligibility.
10/13/2026
Newfoundland and Labrador Issues 131 Invitations on October 9, Its Largest Round Since Late August
Newfoundland and Labrador issued 131 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) from its Expression of Interest (EOI) pool on October 9, 2026, with 130 going to candidates under the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Nominee Program (NLPNP) and one through the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP). The round, the province's first in two weeks and its first of October, was its largest since August 26 (140), more than triple the September 25 round (41) and bigger than all four September rounds. AIP selections remain minimal, with three of the five rounds held since the start of September including none at all. The province has now issued 2,826 ITAs across 17 rounds in 2026 — 2,430 under the NLPNP and 396 through the AIP — against a combined 2026 nomination allocation of 2,854 spaces, including an NLPNP allocation raised this year to 2,379 and an unchanged AIP allocation of 475. Candidates nominated through the NLPNP Express Entry Skilled Worker category receive an extra 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points.
10/12/2026
Low-wage LMIA freeze expands to 30 regions as Halifax, Regina and four other CMAs are added
The federal government updated its list of regions where low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications will not be processed on Oct. 9, 2026, adding six census metropolitan areas (CMAs) - Halifax, Fredericton, Kingston, St. Catharines-Niagara, Regina and Lethbridge - after their unemployment rates reached or exceeded 6%, while removing Kamloops and Chilliwack and keeping the 24 previously affected regions in place, which brings the total to 30, up from 26 last quarter. From Oct. 9, 2026 to Jan. 7, 2027, employers in these areas cannot hire new foreign workers, or renew work permits for existing ones, in non-exempt positions paying less than 120% of the provincial or territorial median hourly wage, although agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals and nursing care facilities are not affected. The measure, in force since Sept. 26, 2024, is one of a series of steps Ottawa has taken to tighten the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) separately extended its concurrent processing window from 60 to 90 days on Aug. 21, 2026, giving foreign workers in Canada with expiring permits more breathing room.
10/10/2026
Ottawa Commits $20 Million to Expand Practice Ready Ontario, Fast-Tracking Up to 200 Internationally Trained Family Physicians
On October 7, 2026, the federal government announced $20 million to expand Practice Ready Ontario (PRO), adding 50 positions a year for four years so that up to 200 internationally trained family physicians can be ready to practise in Ontario by 2028–29, including through a dedicated stream for French-speaking physicians and with a focus on underserved northern, rural and Francophone communities. PRO replaces the traditional two-year residency with a 12-week clinical field assessment, allowing experienced doctors to become licensed in under a year rather than the three to five years typical of other routes. Participants sign a three-year return of service agreement and practise under supervision, earning full independent licensure only after completing that commitment and passing the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) certification exam. The funding is the latest step in a coordinated federal-provincial push on health workforce shortages: Ottawa has already invited 891 physicians to apply for permanent residence in 2026 through a dedicated Express Entry category, and Ontario now lets doctors and nurses licensed elsewhere in Canada start work within days.
10/09/2026
IRCC Updates Job Offer Genuineness Guidance: Home-Based Businesses Can Support Employer-Specific Work Permits
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) revised its officer instructions on assessing the genuineness of job offers for employer-specific work permits on September 17, 2026, confirming that home-based businesses can make genuine offers to foreign workers and that a residential address is not, on its own, a reason for doubt. The revised guidance no longer says employers must have a physical location in Canada where the foreign worker will work, and it notes that a business address may differ from where employees actually work. Officers are told to consider all relevant evidence rather than treat any single factor as decisive. At the same time, the instructions state that a company with no employees, existing in name only and set up to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals, is not an operating business. The update also adds a procedural fairness step: an officer with concerns about an offer should send a letter explaining them, and the employer is given 15 days to submit evidence directly to IRCC. Employers must still show that they genuinely conduct business, need the worker they want to hire and can meet the wages and other terms they have offered.
10/08/2026
Ontario Raises Earnings Points Ceiling, Awarding 10 Points to Candidates Earning $80,000 or More
The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) announced on Oct. 7, 2026, that it has added a new top bracket to the scoring grid of the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream (OWPS), awarding 10 points under the "Canadian work experience: earnings history" factor to candidates with annual earnings of $80,000 or more, two points above the previous maximum of 8 points for earnings of $70,000 or more. The change took effect on Oct. 5 and has been applied automatically to affected profiles. Earnings are based on a Notice of Assessment issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) within the past five years, and higher-scoring candidates stand a better chance of being invited to apply for provincial nomination. Launched on June 26 and opened for intake on Aug. 4, the OWPS is currently Ontario's only provincial nomination route to permanent residence for foreign nationals, while a second phase of the overhaul, adding Priority Healthcare, Entrepreneur and Exceptional Talent streams, still has no launch date.
10/08/2026
B.C. issues 33 invitations in second rural health support draw as cutoff climbs to 60
On Sept 17, 2026, the British Columbia (B.C.) Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) held the second draw under its Temporary Rural/Remote Health Support Initiative (TRHSI), issuing 33 invitations to apply for provincial nomination to cleaning and security staff employed by a public health authority in a rural or remote part of the province, with a minimum score of 60 — 10 points above the 50-point cutoff used in the first draw on July 23, 2026 — while the number of invitations fell from 60 to 33, bringing the two-draw total to 93 invitations to apply (ITAs), or roughly 37% of the initiative's cap of 250 nominations. TRHSI is a one-time, time-limited permanent residence (PR) pathway launched when B.C. restructured its nominee program on April 23, 2026; registration opened June 15, 2026, and eligibility is confined to three National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes — 65312, 65310 and 64410 — with applicants required to have completed nine months of continuous full-time work with the same employer, in the same eligible region and in the same occupation. The registration window was originally set to close at midnight on Aug 31 but was extended to 11:59 p.m. on Oct 7, 2026 because of wildfire-related impacts. The wider context is that B.C.'s 2026 nomination allocation rose to 6,254 after the federal government added 1,000 spaces in August, with at least 35% of nominations required to go to candidates outside Metro Vancouver; and that since June 9, 2026, base Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) nominees applying for PR no longer need to wait for an Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR) before applying for a Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP) — a federal temporary measure running to Dec 31, 2026 that matters especially to TRHSI applicants, who have no Express Entry-aligned option.
09/20/2026
Canada holds back-to-back Express Entry draws: CEC cut-off eases to 519, while the senior managers category sets a record low
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held Express Entry draws on two consecutive days, September 15 and 16, 2026, issuing invitations to apply (ITAs) to two very different groups of candidates. Round #443, conducted on September 15 at 10:21:41 UTC, issued 2,000 invitations under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 519 and a tie-breaking rule of March 26, 2026 at 00:16:39 UTC; round #444, held the following day at 12:44:28 UTC, issued 250 invitations under the category for senior managers with Canadian work experience at a minimum CRS score of just 389, with a tie-breaking rule of September 1, 2026 at 23:05:13 UTC. Both rounds were authorized by ministerial instructions signed in Ottawa by Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). The senior managers category, created in February 2026, has now run three draws, with the cut-off falling from 429 in its first round to 392 and then 389 -- a cumulative drop of 40 points and the lowest threshold in the category's short history. Over the same period, the CEC cut-off has declined for a third consecutive round after peaking at a 2026 high of 523 on August 18. Through round #444, IRCC has held 56 draws and issued 128,982 invitations in 2026, an annual record since Express Entry was launched.
09/18/2026
Express Entry round #442 issues 576 PNP invitations as the cut-off climbs back to 734
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held the 442nd Express Entry round on September 14, 2026, issuing 576 invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residence to candidates in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) category with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 734, up 37 points from the 697 recorded on August 31, the lowest PNP cut-off of the year, while the size of the round edged past the 562 invitations issued two weeks earlier to make it the second-largest PNP round since June 22. The ministerial instruction behind the round was signed in Ottawa by Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab, and the tie-breaking rule was set at 21:39:50 UTC on August 29, 2026, barely two weeks before the draw itself, a sign that a substantial share of the candidates sitting exactly at 734 were recently nominated applicants who had only just entered the pool. With this round, IRCC has held 54 Express Entry draws in 2026 and issued 126,732 invitations in total, including 18 PNP rounds accounting for 8,537 invitations, 22.8 percent more than the 6,947 issued over the same period in 2025 and consistent with Ottawa's decision to restore the 2026 provincial nominee admissions target to 91,500. A pool snapshot published the day before the draw showed 226,793 candidates in the pool, of whom roughly 574 scored 601 or higher, almost exactly matching the 576 invitations issued, which means IRCC once again cleared out nearly the entire top tier of nominated candidates in a single round. Analysts expect the remaining PNP rounds this year to keep to a roughly biweekly rhythm of a little over 400 invitations each, with the cut-off driven largely by how quickly the provinces feed new nominations into the federal pool.
09/15/2026
