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TLDR

Ottawa — Canada's Express Entry pool added 897 profiles between April 12th and April 26th, a 60% drop from the previous reporting period's gain of 2,193. However, the upper CRS bands have continued to grow. The 501–600 CRS band grew by 250 candidates for the second period in a row, and a Canadian Experience Class draw on April 28 held its cutoff at 514 for just 2,000 invitations.

The slowdown in total pool growth coincided with continued gains in the score ranges near recent CEC cutoffs, while lower score bands thinned after recent category-specific draws.

The pool stood at 234,452 active profiles on April 26, up from 233,555 on April 12. That net gain of 897 is the smallest two-week increase in recent reporting periods.

Inside the pool, a split has formed. Every 10-point bracket between 421 and 460 declined, shedding a combined 1,317 profiles. Those losses align with draws that pulled candidates from those ranges: a French-language draw on April 15 at CRS 419, and the residual effect of a trades draw on April 2 at CRS 477.

Higher up, it’s gone the other way, albeit not by much. The 471–480 range gained 241 profiles. The 481–490 range gained 152. The 501–600 range gained 250, and the 601–1,200 range, where provincial nominees land after receiving a 600-point CRS boost, grew by 147.

A note on timing: the April 26 pool data was published before IRCC ran three draws on April 27, 28, and 29. Those draws removed at least 6,473 profiles from the pool, so the current distribution already looks different from what the snapshot shows.

The April 28 CEC draw issued 2,000 invitations at a CRS cutoff of 514, with a tie-breaking date of September 24, 2025. That tie-breaking date means candidates who submitted their profile at the 514 score level more than seven months ago were still being selected, a sign of persistent crowding at that score.

The full sequence of 2026 CEC draws shows the trend:

Draw sizes dropped 75% from January to late April. Cutoffs briefly dipped to 507 in mid-March but have held above 510 since then. The April 14 draw carried a tie-breaking date of June 10, 2025, meaning the backlog at the 515 level stretched back nearly 10 months at that point.

The April 29 French-language draw issued 4,000 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 400, 19 points below the April 15 French round. It was the fifth French draw of 2026 and the third in a row at 4,000 invitations.

The 2026 French draw pattern has been consistent: 8,500 ITAs at CRS 400 on February 6, 5,500 at 397 on March 4, 4,000 at 393 on March 18, 4,000 at 419 on April 15, and 4,000 at 400 on April 29. IRCC uses French-language category-based draws as one of its policy tools to increase Francophone immigration.

The April 27 PNP draw, meanwhile, issued 473 invitations at CRS 795. The high cutoff reflects the 600-point boost that provincial nominees receive, which effectively places them above general-pool competition.

By April 29, IRCC had issued 71,627 invitations to apply across 26 draws in 2026. The breakdown by category: 34,250 went to CEC candidates, 26,000 to French-language candidates, 4,000 to healthcare and social services, 3,736 to PNP, 3,000 to trades, 391 to physicians with Canadian work experience, and 250 to senior managers with Canadian work experience.

CEC and French-language candidates received most invitations issued so far in 2026. CEC and French-language draws together account for more than 84% of all 2026 invitations. Candidates outside those two streams have received a smaller share of total ITAs.

IRCC opened a public consultation on April 23 on proposed changes to the Express Entry system. The consultation runs until May 24, 2026. Among the proposals: merging the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, and Federal Skilled Trades Program into a single unified class, and revising CRS weighting to place more emphasis on earnings and job offers. The changes are still at the proposal stage.

CEC candidates with CRS scores from 510 to 513 are near recent cutoffs but have remained below the threshold in the latest draws. The cutoff has stayed above 510 since mid-March, and tie-breaking dates reaching back into 2025 show that some candidates at or near the cutoff submitted profiles months before receiving an invitation. Small CRS increases through language results or updated credentials can affect whether a profile clears the cutoff.

French-language candidates have faced lower CRS cutoffs than CEC candidates in 2026. Cutoffs for French-language draws have ranged from 393 to 419 in 2026, below CEC thresholds.

For candidates below recent CEC cutoffs, provincial nomination remains a route to an ITA. A nomination adds 600 points, usually placing a candidate above general-pool cutoffs. Eligibility for provincial streams depends on factors including occupation and province of residence.

The open IRCC consultation on Express Entry reform could change how CRS scores are calculated. The deadline for submissions is May 24, 2026.