March 18 Express Entry Draw Drops CRS Below 400

On March 18, 2026, French-language proficiency was announced in a new Express Entry draw by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) with 4,000 candidates invited with a minimum CRS score of only 393.

This draw takes the weekly total to 8,362 invitations to apply (ITAs), and advances the monthly total to 18,376 invitations to apply already granted in March 2026.

It is an ideal match with our forecasts of the pace of invitation in March 2026, which we released at the start of the month, indicating that we anticipated that there would be about 20,000 total invitations in March.

Full Details Of March 18 Express Entry Draw

The tie-breaking date of December 29, 2025 means that applicants who had 393 CRS points exactly must have profiled themselves in the Express Entry program by then to get an invitation.

When will the next Express Entry draw be?

According to the existing trends and the history of the draw at IRCC, the following developments should be observed by the candidates:

Tomorrow/Friday (March 19-20): Smaller invitation round, based on one of the newer categories that have been introduced in the last month, like the Researchers or Transport Occupations category that was introduced in February 2026.

The initial Express Entry draw in the new senior managers category on March 5 provided a precedent of smaller and focused draws at unexpectedly low CRS cutoffs.

March 30-31: It is expected that the next major Express Entry draws will be on these dates, which will probably be a PNP draw, then a CEC draw and possibly another category-based draw to end the month.

This Week’s Express Entry Draws

This week alone, IRCC has made three Express Entry draws, which is very indicative of the organization achieving 2026 immigration targets.

The March 17 CEC draw, at 507 CRS, was the first CEC cutoff since September 2024, and the March 16 PNP draw was the next in a series of provincial nominee invitations.

Why French Draws Have Lower CRS Cutoffs

French language abilities regularly record the lowest CRS cutoffs in all Express Entry draw categories.

The reason is that IRCC puts focus on the French-speaking immigration to offer French-speaking assistance to the Francophone communities beyond Quebec with the federal goal of 8.5% French-speaking admissions increasing to 10.5% in 2027.

French-language proficiency is being a major category in the Express Entry draw categories of the year 2026, and it always receives the highest volume of invitations with the lowest CRS score.

French-Language Proficiency Eligibility

To be eligible to draw French-language proficiency, the applicant should have the following requirements:

1. Valid Express Entry profile under FSW, CEC or FSTP.

2. Results on the French language test (TEF Canada or TCF Canada) that indicate that the CLB level is 7 or above in the four abilities.

3. The test results should have less than two years to the draw.

4. English proficiency is not a prerequisite although bilingual applicants are assigned more CRS points.

All The Express Entry Draws in 2026

The table presented below will contain all the Express Entry draws done by the IRCC in 2026 and will reveal how varied the categories are and how many draws 26 are held regularly with the same invitation volume.

Next Steps for Invited Candidates

Applicants who have ITA should provide permanent residence application within 60 days to the date of invitation letter.

The necessary documents will be valid French language test results (TEF Canada or TCF Canada), employment reference letters, educational credential test, police certificates and medical examination test.

The candidates must ensure that their profile details are consistent with their supporting records to eliminate delays during processing.

March 2026 will be among the most powerful months of Express Entry in 2021, and 18,376 ITAs have already been given out with additional draws anticipated until the conclusion of the month.

The applicants are expected to keep an eye on the official invitations rounds of the IRCC page to be kept informed regarding the future draw.

According to the Express Entry pool analysis of February 2026, there were more than 230,000 candidates in the pool and are competing against invitation, so category-based draws such as the current French round represent one of the desirable avenues to the eligible candidates.