Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada issued 792 invitations to apply for permanent residence in Express Entry draw 451 on October 26, 2026, a Provincial Nominee Program round with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score of 761.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada issued 792 invitations to apply for permanent residence in Express Entry draw 451 on October 26, 2026. The round was limited to candidates in the Provincial Nominee Program, and the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score among those invited was 761.
The tie-breaking rule was April 3, 2026, at 18:00:26 UTC, meaning that among candidates sitting exactly on 761 points, only those whose profiles were submitted before that time were invited. The round took place at 10:38:23 UTC on October 26, according to the draw record.
Compared with the previous Provincial Nominee Program round, draw 448 on October 13, which invited 752 candidates at a cut-off of 772, the October 26 round issued 40 more invitations and lowered the cut-off by 11 points. The cut-off remains high by Express Entry standards because a provincial nomination adds 600 points to a candidate's score, placing nominated candidates among the highest-ranked profiles in the pool.
The figures agree across the official rounds data reproduced by three immigration trackers, including the draw number, the invitation count, the cut-off and the tie-breaking timestamp. An invitation is not itself permanent residence: invited candidates must still apply and meet eligibility requirements, and the draw does not change the requirements imposed through provincial nomination processes.
For provincial nominees, the slightly larger draw and lower cut-off ease the queue at the top of the pool, but only marginally. With 792 invitations against a pool in which only a small number of candidates hold scores above 600, the round appears to have worked through most of the currently eligible nominated candidates, so the next round's size will depend on how many new nominations enter the pool.
The next Express Entry round has no announced date. Candidates watching the pool should look for the next ministerial instruction, which will set the round type, the number of invitations and the cut-off, rather than treating this round's 761 as a fixed threshold.