What changed
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced changes to the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System. Starting November 3, 2026, IRCC will award additional points to candidates with eligible Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation. The examples given in the release include engineers and electricians.
IRCC is also changing how job offers are assessed under Express Entry. As of November 3, 2026, a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) will no longer be required for a qualifying job offer to receive the new Express Entry points or to meet job offer requirements under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. IRCC says it will continue to assess whether job offers are genuine and meet program requirements, with measures in place to protect against fraud.
What the official text says
> Starting November 3, 2026, IRCC will award additional points to candidates with eligible Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation , including jobs such as engineers and electricians.
> As of November 3, 2026, a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) will no longer be required for a qualifying job offer to receive the new Express Entry points or to meet job offer requirements under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program .
Who is affected
Candidates already in the Express Entry pool will have their Comprehensive Ranking System scores automatically recalculated under the new points system, which includes points for eligible Canadian work experience. The official page states that candidates who wish to receive points for a qualifying job offer must update their profiles with the required information before November 3.
The recalculation process may take up to two weeks, during which invitation rounds will be paused.
The changes concern those applying for permanent residence through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, the Canadian experience class and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program.
On the definition of a high-wage occupation, the release states that it is one with a median wage of at least 1.3 times the median wage of the overall Canadian workforce, based on the typical earnings of an occupation rather than an individual candidate's previous or current salary. Eligible high-wage occupations include jobs in health care, skilled trades, engineering, technology and education. IRCC will maintain a list of high-wage occupations on its website, based on wage data from the Job Bank, Labour Force Survey and Census of Population from the previous three years; an occupation will be assigned the highest high-wage level it met in any year during that period.
When it starts
The new points system and the removal of the LMIA requirement both take effect on November 3, 2026. The news release is dated October 16, 2026.
Send this page