TORONTO, October 16, 2026 – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced on October 16 that changes to the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) will take effect on November 3. The new system will introduce additional points for Canadian work experience and job offers in high-wage occupations, while removing Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) requirements in some cases for obtaining those points.
Existing CRS points for Canadian work experience will remain in place. In addition, applicants with at least 12 months of qualifying Canadian work experience in a high-wage occupation may receive an additional 20, 40 or 70 points, depending on the wage tier of the occupation.
IRCC will classify high-wage occupations based on the national median wage for each NOC occupation. Occupations with a median wage equal to at least 1.3, 1.5 or 2 times the overall median wage of Canada’s labour force will fall into different tiers. The calculation is based on the national wage level for the occupation, not the applicant’s actual salary.
Canadian work experience in the highest tier can receive an additional 70 points, while the middle tier will receive 40 points and occupations meeting the lowest high-wage threshold will receive 20 points.
Qualifying work experience can be accumulated across different employers or multiple eligible occupations and does not need to be continuous. Full-time work or an equivalent amount of part-time work can count, but applicants must accumulate at least 12 months or 1,560 hours, with a maximum of 30 hours counted per week.
Starting November 3, Express Entry will also reintroduce CRS points for job offers, but only for offers in occupations that meet the new high-wage criteria. Depending on the occupation’s wage tier, an eligible job offer may receive 50, 70 or 100 points.
Points for Canadian work experience and a job offer cannot be combined. If an applicant qualifies under both categories, the system will apply whichever one provides the higher number of points.
Another major change involves LMIAs. Under the new rules, qualifying job offers in high-wage occupations will no longer require an LMIA in order to receive Express Entry points. Some applicants under the Federal Skilled Worker Program or Federal Skilled Trades Program may also be exempt from certain existing LMIA or LMIA-exemption requirements if they meet the conditions of a temporary public policy.
IRCC emphasized that removing the LMIA requirement does not mean job offers will face less scrutiny. Immigration officials will still assess whether the employer is actively operating, whether the position is genuine, whether the employer is capable of meeting the terms of the offer, and whether the applicant is qualified to perform the job.
Candidates who are already in the Express Entry pool will not need to create a new profile. Once the new system takes effect, IRCC will automatically recalculate CRS scores for existing candidates. Those seeking points under the new job offer rules should ensure that the employment information in their profiles is complete and accurate.
IRCC expects the recalculation of the entire candidate pool to take up to about two weeks. Express Entry invitation rounds will be paused during that period and will resume once the adjustment is completed.
The first list of eligible high-wage occupations has also been released, covering fields including health care, engineering, technology, education, finance, management and certain skilled trades. The list may be adjusted in the future as wage data changes.
IRCC has previously consulted on possible reforms involving age, language ability, Canadian education, spouses and other CRS factors. Those proposals remain under review. The changes taking effect on November 3 — covering high-wage Canadian work experience, job offers and LMIA requirements — are among the Express Entry reforms that have now been confirmed for implementation.
（LJI by Yuanyuan）
