On October 16, 2026, IRCC invited 5,000 French-speaking candidates to apply for permanent residence at a minimum CRS of 435. The invitation count matches every French round since July. The cutoff does not: it is 53 points above the 382 we saw on August 19.
What happened
This was round #450, run under the "French-language proficiency 2026-Version 2" instructions at 10:25:13 UTC. It invited candidates from the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program. The lowest-ranked candidate invited scored 435, and the tie-breaking cutoff was October 6, 2026 at 21:31:22 UTC. Candidates at exactly 435 who submitted their profile before that moment were invited; those who submitted later were not.
To be considered you needed French test results at NCLC 7 or higher in all four abilities (speaking, listening, reading and writing) and eligibility for one of the three programs. Meeting the bar did not guarantee an invitation. IRCC ranked eligible profiles by CRS and invited from the top until it hit 5,000.
Why the cutoff jumped
The draw size did not change, so the jump comes from who is in the pool. We cannot see IRCC's pool data for this round, so treat the following as a reading of the pattern, not a confirmed cause. Four French rounds in a row had pushed the cutoff down to 382 in August. A rebound of this size suggests the pool of high-scoring French speakers had been drawn down and then refilled by newly entered profiles, but IRCC has not said so.
| Date | ITAs issued | CRS cutoff |
|---|---|---|
| July 9, 2026 | 5,000 | 420 |
| July 22, 2026 | 5,000 | 399 |
| August 6, 2026 | 5,000 | 391 |
| August 19, 2026 | 5,000 | 382 |
| October 16, 2026 | 5,000 | 435 |
One caution: 435 is the cutoff for this round only. The page we relied on warns against using it to predict the next one, and we agree. Between August 19 and today there was a two-month gap in French rounds in our records, which is itself unusual compared with the roughly two-week rhythm from July to August.