BREAKING: Canada boosts CRS points for Express Entry candidates with high

Canada will boost priority for permanent residence selection for workers with job offers or eligible Canadian work experience in 186 higher-paying occupations, and will not require Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) for the job offers to qualify.

Starting Nov. 3, 2026, additional points under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) will be awarded to Express Entry candidates whose job offer or Canadian work experience occupation meets or exceeds the thresholds of 1.3x, 1.5x, or 2x the Canada-wide median wage, up to a maximum of 100 CRS points. The higher a candidate's CRS score, the more likely they are to receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for Canadian permanent residence.

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The federal government announced the changes in a press release published on Oct. 16, 2026, following an announcement by Immigration Minister Lena Diab at a press conference in Kitchener at 11 a.m. EDT.

The points will be awarded through a new section of the CRS called the Labour Market Integration Factor (LMIF), under which a candidate can score either up to 100 points for a high-wage job offer, or up to 70 points for high-wage Canadian work experience.

High-wage job offer points will be awarded based on the highest factor the candidate qualifies for:

High-wage Canadian work experience points will be awarded based on the highest factor for which the candidate has at least 12 months full-time work experience, which can be across one or more occupations:

Candidates will be awarded points for whichever LMIF sub-factor they score higher on, according to the government's changes to the CRS web page.

To receive the additional points for qualifying job offers, candidates must update their profiles with the necessary job offer information. When updating their online profile with the job offer, they will need to follow IRCC's instructions by selecting that they have a positive LMIA, even though the LMIA is not required.

Candidates with qualifying Canadian work experience in their existing profiles will receive the additional points automatically.

As of the time of writing, the list of high-wage occupations is as follows:

The immigration department has published the list of eligible occupations on a new web page, "High-wage occupations and how we assess them," which went live on Oct. 16.

During the period in which candidates' scores are being recalculated to reflect the CRS changes, which are set to take effect on Nov. 3, the government will pause all Express Entry invitations, according to the press release, which says the recalculation "may take up to two weeks."

Once a candidate has received an invitation to apply (ITA), they will not be impacted by any subsequent changes to the list of high-wage occupations. IRCC will assess each candidate's application based on the list that was in effect on the date that the candidate was issued the ITA.

IRCC determines the high-wage factor of each occupation based on the highest median wage for the occupation within the past three years. The department makes that determination using labour market data sourced from the Job Bank, the Labour Force Survey, and the Census of Population.

The occupation is determined by the duties in the candidate's job offer: specifically, how the duties are categorized under Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC) system.

As part of the same suite of changes, Express Entry candidates will also no longer require LMIAs to meet the job offer requirements to qualify for permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) or Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

Express Entry candidates have received no points for job offers since March 2025, when IRCC removed the points that had previously been awarded for arranged employment: 200 points for select senior manager valid job offers, and 50 points for valid job offers for all other occupations. To qualify under the old scheme, job offers needed to meet specific arranged employment criteria, which would normally be met through the candidate's employer having an LMIA associated with the candidate's job offer.

The Oct. 16 announcement is the latest development in the ongoing program of reforms to Express Entry, the federal government's flagship system for selecting skilled workers who intend to settle as Canadian permanent residents outside Quebec.

In March 2026, IRCC published its departmental plan, which disclosed the intent to create what is now called the Labour Market Integration Factor (LMIF).

In April 2026, IRCC announced plans to retire Express Entry's three existing permanent residence streams, and to replace them with a single stream.

On April 10, the department made public a presentation delivered to immigration lawyers, which revealed that the plans included an overhaul of the CRS, including the creation of the high-wage factor, along with the shift to a single minimum language proficiency level applicable to workers across all occupations.

On April 21, 2026, IRCC held a webinar for immigration lawyers, disclosing that the full package of reforms was anticipated to be completed sometime between April 2027 and October 2027, while changes to the CRS might be completed sooner.

In August 2026, an IRCC survey published as part of the public consultations process revealed that the department was taking a four-pronged approach to redefining priority groups of skilled workers through the Express Entry system, with the focus areas under consideration being

In recent years, the federal government has selected over 100,000 skilled workers per year as permanent residents through the Express Entry system. To obtain permanent residence through Express Entry, a foreign national must receive an invitation from the government after creating an online expression of interest profile and meeting the minimum requirements for at least one of the three federal permanent residence programs managed through the system: the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), or the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).