When conducting draws through Express Entry, the federal government does not set a cut-off score under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to determine which candidates are invited to apply for permanent residence.
In reality, the process works the other way around.
The government first decides how many candidates to invite in a particular draw. It then issues invitations to the highest-ranking candidates in the pool, and the cut-off score is simply the score of the lowest-ranked candidate who receives an invitation.
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In other words, the cut-off score is determined by the composition of the Express Entry pool at the time of the draw, not by a predetermined decision.
For example, imagine a basketball coach selecting five players for a team based on height. He chooses the five tallest players, and the shortest among them happens to be 6’2”. It would be correct to observe that all selected players are at least 6’2” tall—but the coach didn’t set a rule to pick players above 6’2”. He simply picked the tallest available. Similarly, Express Entry draws select candidates based on rank, not based on achieving a specific score.
Thus, the cut-off score in an Express Entry draw is a result of selecting the top candidates, not the reason they were selected. Candidates are invited because they are the highest-scoring profiles, and the cut-off score merely reflects the score of the last profile chosen.
If multiple candidates have the same score at the cut-off, a tie-breaking rule is applied, based on the date the profile was submitted. Candidates with scores at the cut-off who submitted their profiles before the tie-breaking date will receive invitations, while those who submitted later will not.
Changes in cut-off scores can occur due to several factors: smaller or less frequent draw sizes, an increase in the number of high-scoring profiles entering the pool, or improvements in scores among existing candidates.
Ultimately, the government decides how many invitations to issue and which candidates to invite. The cut-off score is simply a consequence of those decisions, not a cause.
