IRCC announced on 16 October that the Comprehensive Ranking System will change on 3 November 2026. Express Entry candidates will be able to score points for a job offer again, for the first time since March 2025, and for Canadian work experience in occupations IRCC classes as high-wage.
A qualifying job offer is worth up to 100 points and no longer needs a Labour Market Impact Assessment.
The new Labour Market Integration factor
The change creates a new section of the CRS, the Labour Market Integration factor. It scores one of two things, whichever gives you more:
| Option | With a spouse or partner | Without |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian work experience | up to 140 (70 for length + 70 for high-wage experience) | up to 150 (80 for length + 70 for high-wage experience) |
| A qualifying job offer | up to 100 | up to 100 |
You get one or the other, not both. IRCC's words: "You can only receive points for Canadian work experience or an eligible job offer, not both."
The length points are the same Canadian experience points the CRS already gives: 40 for one year and 80 for five, or 35 to 70 with a spouse. What is new is the high-wage layer on top, and the job offer.
High-wage experience: up to 70 extra points
| At least 12 months of Canadian experience in occupations whose median wage is | Extra points |
|---|---|
| at least 2 times the average median wage | 70 |
| at least 1.5 times | 40 |
| at least 1.3 times | 20 |
| less than 12 months in a high-wage occupation | 0 |
Twelve months means 12 months or 1,560 hours. It can be combined across jobs, and part-time counts at the equivalent hours. Where two jobs overlap, only 30 hours a week count. The 40-point and 20-point tiers count time in any occupation at or above their multiple, so a year split between a 2× job and a 1.5× job earns 40.
Job offers: up to 100 points
| Job offer in an occupation whose median wage is | Points |
|---|---|
| at least 2 times the average median wage | 100 |
| at least 1.5 times, less than 2 | 70 |
| at least 1.3 times, less than 1.5 | 50 |
| not a high-wage occupation | 0 |
From 3 November no LMIA is needed for an offer to earn these points, and an LMIA no longer adds points of its own. The offer can be with a new or existing employer. An officer still checks that it is genuine: that the employer is active, can meet the terms, and complies with employment law, and that you can do the job.
It is your occupation's wage, not yours
This is the part most likely to be misread. The tier is set by the median wage of your occupation's NOC code, measured against the average median wage of the Canadian workforce. Your own salary does not decide it. A software developer on $60,000 and one on $160,000 sit in the same tier.
IRCC places each occupation in the highest tier its median wage reached in the last three years, using Job Bank, the Labour Force Survey and the Census. The current list uses 2023 to 2025 data. IRCC does not publish the dollar figures behind the multiples.
The list has 186 occupations, all TEER 0 to 3:
- 31 at 2×, including physicians and surgeons, nurse practitioners, lawyers, university professors, engineering managers and computer and information systems managers.
- 89 at 1.5×, including registered nurses, software developers and engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity specialists, pharmacists, teachers, police officers, power system electricians and air pilots.
- 66 at 1.3×, including accountants, financial analysts, web developers, social workers, paramedics, medical laboratory technologists, industrial electricians and crane operators.
If your occupation moves tier after you are invited, the tier on your invitation date is kept.
What it is worth in practice
Take a registered nurse, single, with two years of Canadian experience as a nurse. Before 3 November that experience is worth 53 points. After it, the same two years are worth 93: 53 for length and 40 for the 1.5× tier.
A nurse with a job offer but no Canadian experience scores 70 for the offer. Before 3 November, the same offer scored nothing.
Who does not gain
Anyone whose occupation is not on the list. No TEER 4 or 5 job is on it, and neither are many TEER 2 and 3 occupations, such as cooks, transport truck drivers and early childhood educators. Their Canadian experience keeps its length points, and their job offers still earn nothing.
What else to know
- Draws pause. IRCC will recalculate every profile from 3 November, which "could take up to two weeks", and will hold no invitation rounds while it does.
- Update your profile before 3 November if you have a job offer. Until IRCC's system is updated, it asks applicants to answer the LMIA question with placeholder values; the changes page gives them.
- Skill transferability does not change. Canadian experience there is still counted by length alone.
- The new maximum is not published. By IRCC's own tables the CRS now adds up to 1,270 for everyone, single or not. That is our sum, not an IRCC figure.
- Points are not an invitation. Every round still sets its own cut-off.
Check your own number
The CRS calculator scores you under the new rules and the current ones side by side, with the full list of high-wage occupations, so you can see what the change is worth to you.
Sources
Read on 2026-10-17 from IRCC: the announcement, the 2026 changes page, the high-wage occupations list and the CRS criteria. Where IRCC disagrees with this page, IRCC is right; tell us and it gets fixed.