6 pieces on how Canadian immigration selection is actually working this year, each sourced and dated. Where an official record disagrees with us, the record is right — tell us and we will fix it.
News
6 · updated 2026-10-24
01
The widest year on record, and Ontario has not drawn since April
Canada raised provincial nominations by two-thirds for 2026. Six weeks later Ontario deleted all eight of its streams. Here is what the draw data actually shows, federal and provincial, read on 21 August 2026.
Draws
02
British Columbia has a lane where your points score does not matter
On 20 August the BC PNP invited 337 people with no minimum score at all. The only gate was the wage — and the wage floor has fallen 21% since February while the rounds have got bigger.
Draws
03
Canada's student cap is two-thirds empty
The 2026 target is 155,000 new international students. Through May, Canada had received 19,425. The cap was never the thing standing in your way.
Deciding
04
BC PNP draws, 10 September to 8 October 2026
Four draw dates and eleven rounds, inviting 1,459 people plus two veterinary rounds BC reports only as "fewer than five". Health and construction held their minimums on 8 October, and the High Economic Impact wage floor dropped to $52 an hour.
BC PNP draws
05
Ontario adds an $80,000 earnings band worth 10 points
The first change to the Ontario Workforce Priority grid took effect on 5 October. The top of the earnings factor moves from 8 points at $70,000 to 10 points at $80,000, every existing profile was rescored automatically, and Ontario has still not run a single invitation round under the stream.
OINP
06
Express Entry will score high-wage occupations from 3 November
IRCC is bringing back points for job offers, up to 100 of them, but only in 186 occupations it calls high-wage, and no LMIA is needed. Canadian experience in those occupations earns up to 70 more. The tier comes from your occupation's median wage, not your own pay.
Express Entry
Not financial or immigration advice
We aren't licensed advisors, and none of this accounts for your situation. Fees, rates and government thresholds move — treat every number here as a mechanism to understand, not a figure to rely on, and check it at the source before it costs you something.