Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued 5,000 invitations to apply for permanent residence on Tuesday, October 27, in a French-language proficiency Express Entry round, CIC News reported. To be considered, candidates needed a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 407 and an Express Entry profile created before 7:22 p.m. UTC on July 13, 2026, under the tie-breaking rule.
Source: CIC News, Canada invites 5,000 francophones to apply for permanent residence, Oct 27 2026
The round is Express Entry draw number 452 and the second consecutive round this week, following the October 26 Provincial Nominee Program draw that invited 792 candidates, Immigration News Canada reported. Together the two rounds issued 5,792 invitations over two days. The French-language draw was held at 10:17:26 UTC and targeted the French-Language Proficiency 2026 — Version 2 category, according to draw details reported by INC Visa.
Source: Immigration News Canada, New Express Entry Draw On October 27 Issues 5,000 ITAs, Oct 27 2026
Cut-off down 28 points; French draws are the year's largest stream
The CRS cut-off of 407 is a fall of 28 points from the previous French-language draw on October 16, when 5,000 candidates were invited at a minimum CRS of 435, Moving2Canada and Immigration News Canada reported. CIC News, in its updated pool breakdown, said the October 26 and October 27 draws bring IRCC's total Express Entry invitations for 2026 to 149,259, with French-language proficiency draws accounting for the largest share of the year's invitations, at approximately 40.2 per cent.
For Punjabi and other diaspora readers in Canada, the result underlines how strongly Canada's category-based system currently rewards French-language proficiency: dedicated French rounds have repeatedly carried far lower CRS cut-offs than recent Canadian Experience Class rounds, including the October 15 CEC draw at CRS 519 reported in CIC News' pool breakdown. This story reports the draw result only; eligibility for any category depends on a candidate's own profile and IRCC's rules.