Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced significant changes to the Express Entry System that will take effect November 3, 2026, reintroducing points for job offers and expanding points for Canadian work experience. The Express Entry system had previously awarded points to applicants with qualifying job offers. These points were removed in March 2025. Express Entry candidates have been eagerly waiting to see if and how job offer points would be reestablished.
Under the previous iteration of job offer points, candidates could be awarded points for having both Canadian work experience and a job offer. Under the new Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), points will be awarded for either Canadian work experience or a job offer, whichever will yield a higher CRS score for the candidate. Note that points for Skill Transferability Factors will remain unchanged. This means that a candidate could be awarded points for a permanent job offer and still benefit from using their Canadian work experience toward Skill Transferability Factors.
Points for Canadian Work Experience
Candidates in the Express Entry pool can receive 40-80 points for Canadian work experience based on the length of time that they have worked in a high-skilled occupation in Canada in the last 10 years. The range is 35-70 points for candidates with an accompanying dependent spouse or common-law partner. These points will remain in the CRS system. In addition, candidates with Canadian work experience in high-wage Occupations may also gain additional points. Specifically, candidates with at least 12 months of qualifying Canadian work experience in eligible high-wage occupations may receive additional points:
- 70 points where the candidate’s qualifying experience is in one or more occupations with a median wage of at least 2 times the national median wage.
- 40 points where the candidate’s qualifying experience is in one or more occupations with a median wage of at least 1.5 times the national median wage.
- 20 points where the candidate’s qualifying experience is in one or more occupations with a median wage of at least 1.2 times the national median wage.
Combined with the existing points for Canadian work experience, candidates without an accompanying spouse or common-law partner can receive up to a maximum of 150 points under the Labour Market Integration factor. Candidates with an accompanying spouse or common-law partner can receive a maximum of 140 points.
Candidates whose Canadian work experience does not qualify for high-wage points will continue to receive the existing points based on the duration of their eligible work experience.
Points for Job Offers in High-Wage Occupations
Candidates with a qualifying job offer in an eligible high-wage occupation will receive additional CRS points according to the occupation’s national median wage.
- 100 points: If the job offer is for an occupation with a median wage that is at least 2 times the median wage of the overall Canadian workforce.
- 70 points: If the job offer is for an occupation with a median wage that is at least 1.5 times the median wage of the overall Canadian workforce.
- 50 points: If the job offer is for an occupation with a median wage that is at least 1.3 times the median wage of the overall Canadian workforce.
A high-wage occupation is determined by comparing the median wage of workers in a particular National Occupational Classification (NOC) occupation against the median wage of the overall Canadian workforce. The classification depends on the occupation’s median wage, not the individual candidate’s salary.
IRCC’s published list identifies eligible occupations by NOC code and assigns them to three wage tiers. The list is based on wage data from Job Bank, the Labour Force Survey and the Census of Population covering 2023 to 2025. Only occupations appearing on the list qualify for these additional high-wage points.
What Should Candidates and Employers Do Now?
Candidates already in the Express Entry pool should review their profiles and update any job offer information that needs to be amended before November 3rd. IRCC will recalculate existing profiles when the changes take effect and has noted that this process could take up to two weeks, during which invitation rounds will be paused.
Employers should also consider how the changes may help skilled foreign workers improve their prospects for permanent residence, particularly where the position falls within an eligible high-wage occupation.
Further operational guidance from IRCC will be important in clarifying questions that arise for candidates, employers, and immigration practitioners.
If you have any questions about Express Entry, please feel free to contact us.
