Canada prioritises three occupational categories for Express Entry

Canada’s federal government will prioritise three new occupational categories for permanent residence through the Express Entry system: researchers and senior managers with Canadian work experience, transport occupations, and military personnel.

The minimum work experience requirement for all categories has been increased to one year, compared to the previous requirement of six months of continuous work experience.

The required one year of work experience within the past three years does not necessarily need to be continuous.

Minister of Immigration Lena Metlege Diab announced these changes during a speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto on 18 February 2026.

Senior management occupations with Canadian experience

Occupations	NOC 2021 code
Senior managers – construction, transportation, production and utilities	00015
Senior managers — trade, broadcasting and other services	00014
Senior managers — health, education, social and community services and membership organisations	00013
Senior managers – financial, communications and other business services	00012

Researcher occupations with Canadian work experience

Occupations	NOC 2021 code
Post-secondary teaching and research assistants	41201
University professors and lecturers	41200

Skilled military recruitment occupations

Occupations	NOC 2021 code
Operational members of the Canadian Armed Forces	43204
Specialist members of the Canadian Armed Forces	42102
Commissioned officers of the Canadian Armed Forces	40042

Transport occupations

Occupations	NOC 2021 code
Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors	72600
Automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics, and mechanical repairers	72410
Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors	72404
Avionics, electrical and electronic equipment mechanics, technicians and inspectors	22313

Diab also announced that the first draw for the doctors with Canadian work experience category, which was added to the Express Entry occupational categories on 8 December 2025, will take place this week.

The government will continue to prioritise inviting candidates in category-based selections: French language proficiency, healthcare and social services, and trades, according to Diab.

Only the agriculture and agri-food category has been removed.

The new transport category does not contain any occupations from the previous Express Entry transport category, which was removed in February 2025.

Under the system Express Entry, foreign nationals with work experience in eligible occupations within a category will have a higher chance of being selected for permanent residence through category-based selection (CBS) Express Entry draws, in which the government issues invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residence to Express Entry candidates who meet the criteria of the chosen category.

The one year of work experience required to qualify for a category must have been accumulated within the past three years.

Since April 2024, category-based selection has been the only way for foreign nationals without Canadian work experience or a provincial nomination to be selected as permanent residents through Express Entry, as all non-CBS and non-PNP draws since 23 April 2024 have been conducted under Canadian Experience Class (CEC), requiring at least 1 year of skilled work experience in Canada.

Diab mentioned that the new changes under Express Entry will support Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, a key pillar in Mark Carney’s nation-building economic programme.

Additional requirements for skilled military recruitment

The military recruitment category has additional requirements beyond 1 year of qualifying work experience.

To be eligible for the skilled military recruitment category, Express Entry candidates must also:

• Be serving in a recognised foreign military force with at least 10 years of continuous service
• Have a full-time job offer for at least 3 years with the Canadian Armed Forces
• Hold a post-secondary qualification from a programme of at least 2 years

About Express Entry

Express Entry is the federal government’s primary management system for permanent residence applications.

The government selects foreign nationals for permanent residence by issuing invitations to apply (ITAs) to the highest-ranked eligible candidates through the Express Entry system.

To be eligible for Express Entry, candidates must intend to reside in Canada outside Quebec, and meet the minimum requirements of at least one of three federal immigration programmes managed by Express Entry:

• Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
• Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
• Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)

All programmes require at least 1 year of full-time skilled work experience, defined as work in an occupation classified as TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 under National Occupational Classification (NOC) .

All candidates must achieve minimum proficiency in English or French, demonstrated by completing a language test from a government-approved third-party provider.

Candidates are scored based on The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) of Canada, which assigns each candidate profile a score from 0-1,200 based on work experience, language proficiency, education level, and age.

For candidates immigrating with a spouse or partner, their spouse’s Canadian work experience, level of education, and language proficiency also affect their CRS score.

Category-based selection history

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) first established Express Entry categories in May 2023, under former Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. At that time, category-based selection launched with six categories:

• French proficiency
• Health care occupations
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations
• Trade occupations
• Transport occupations
• Agriculture and agri-food occupations

The above categories remained until 27 February 2025, when IRCC undertook a major overhaul of both existing Express Entry categories and the eligible occupations selected under them. As part of this change, the department established a new category for education occupations while removing the transport category.

The addition of new eligible occupations also triggered updated versions of certain categories, reflected in Express Entry rounds as “Version 2” of a given category.

This overhaul was followed by the addition of another new category on 8 December 2025 — “Physicians with Canadian work experience”, introduced as part of a package of immigration measures to help increase Canada’s supply of doctors.

A summary of Express Entry category-based rounds since their launch can be found below:

Round type	Number of draws held	Total ITAs issued
Agriculture and agri-food occupations (Version 1)	3	1,150
Education occupations (Version 1)	2	3,500
French language proficiency (Version 1)	26	79,700
French language proficiency 2026-Version 2	1	8,500
Healthcare and social service occupations (Version 2)	7	14,500
Healthcare occupations (Version 1)	6	15,850
STEM occupations (Version 1)	3	10,900
Trade occupations (Version 1)	4	6,100
Trade occupations (Version 2)	1	1,250
Transport occupations (Version 1)	3	2,645
Total	56	144,095

Detailed article on the government website at here.