Proposed Express Entry overhaul

Under the Canadian government’s (Ottawa) proposed changes to Express Entry, high income will carry more weight than Canadian work experience in the competition for Canadian permanent residence.

What are the proposed Express Entry changes?

Further details on the proposed overhaul of the Express Entry system – Canada’s primary immigration system for skilled workers – include awarding points to high-income earners (part of a broad selection criteria reform) and standardising work experience requirements – whereby candidates with only foreign work experience will be considered on par with those with Canadian work experience.

Key proposed changes include:

Merging all three programmes into a single stream with a unified set of criteria, including:

• Standardising work experience requirements: 1 year of cumulative work experience (in Canada or abroad) within the last 3 years;
• Standardising language requirements: Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 6 for all candidates;
• Proposed overhaul of elements of The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), including removing or adjusting certain scoring criteria such as:
  • Having siblings in Canada;
  • Having post-secondary credentials in Canada;
  • French language proficiency.
• Reintroducing job offer points as a new CRS factor called “High Wage Occupation”; and
• Completely removing the 67-point grid used in Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).

These details come from a slide deck that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shared with immigration lawyers during recent consultations, and has now been widely released.

These proposals are based on signals IRCC sent earlier this week in the Forward Regulatory Plan: 2026-2028, which revealed the department’s intention to terminate the FSWP, the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

These proposals are not yet finalised. IRCC expects to hold public consultations in the spring of 2026 before deciding on the next steps.

New conditions for the consolidated programme

Under the current system, each Express Entry programme has its own set of eligibility criteria.

The IRCC proposal will replace these criteria with a single set of requirements:

• Education: All candidates must have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, verified through an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA). Currently, education is only a minimum requirement for the FSWP.
• Language: All candidates would need to achieve CLB 6 (or NCLC 6 for French) across all 4 abilities, regardless of occupation type. Under the current system, the minimum language requirement ranges from CLB/NCLC:
  • 4-5 for FSTP candidates;
  • 5-7 for CEC candidates (depending on the primary occupation); and
  • 7 for FSWP candidates;
• Work experience: Candidates must have 1 year of cumulative work experience in an occupation under TEER 0 to 3, gained within the last 3 years. This experience can be in Canada or abroad. The shift from “continuous” to “cumulative” is notable – meaning candidates can aggregate shorter periods of work to meet the requirement.
• Job offer: A job offer will no longer be a minimum requirement. Currently, FSTP candidates must have a valid job offer or a certificate of qualification.
• FSWP 67-point grid: The scoring grid used to screen FSWP candidates will be removed entirely.

IRCC stated that category-based selection will continue to be maintained, keeping flexibility for Express Entry draws for French speakers and draws targeting occupations with labour shortages.

How will the CRS change?

The slide deck also outlines proposed changes to how candidates are ranked in the Express Entry pool:

• Canadian work experience: Currently worth a maximum of 80 points, this factor will be restructured to integrate the new High Wage Occupation factor and job offers for high-income occupations (see details below).
• High Wage Occupation factor: This is the most significant addition. Candidates with Canadian work experience or a job offer in occupations paying above the national median wage would receive additional CRS points. IRCC proposes three tiers based on the wage gap relative to the median:
  • 1.3 times (e.g., financial analysts);
  • 1.5 times (e.g., engineers and teachers); and
  • 2 times (e.g., physicians and professors).
• The list of eligible occupations will be updated periodically.
• Job offer points: Removed from the CRS in March 2025, job offer points will return – but only for candidates in high-income occupations as noted above. Notably, IRCC stated it will calculate these points based on the occupation’s income – meaning the typical salary of a given occupation – rather than the candidate’s personal income. The department stated this approach helps reduce integrity risks.
• Skills transferability: Currently worth a maximum of 100 points, this factor will better recognise professional certifications. Points for foreign work experience will be retained.
• Enhancing recognition of Canadian professional licences: Holders of a Certificate of Qualification in a Red Seal trade will be better recognised under the new system. IRCC is also exploring the recognition of other regulated professions and considering awarding points for on-the-job apprenticeship experience.

Factors proposed for removal or adjustment

According to IRCC, the following CRS scoring factors are “weaker indicators of a candidate’s economic outcomes.” Consequently, the department is considering removing or adjusting the following factors:

• French language bonus points: Currently 25 to 50 points;
• Study in Canada: Currently 15 to 30 points;
• Siblings in Canada: Currently 15 points; and
• Spousal points: Currently a maximum of 40 points.

Provincial/territorial nominations (currently worth 600 points) are also among the scoring factors that IRCC will consider adjusting or removing, even though this is a strong indicator of economic success. This is likely because the federal government has held specialised Express Entry draws selecting candidates who declared a provincial nomination in their profile – essentially creating redundancy in the selection process by awarding additional points to these same candidates.

How likely are these changes to take effect?

These proposals are at an early stage. IRCC first signalled these changes in its regulatory forward plan on 01 April 2026, and stakeholder and public consultations are scheduled for spring 2026.

No implementation timeline has been announced.

However, IRCC has proceeded with other initiatives listed in the regulatory forward plan. The proposal to update outdated fee regulations in the plan has resulted in increased permanent resident fees effective from 30 April 2026, and increased citizenship fees effective from 31 March 2026.

However, the scope of these Express Entry changes is much larger than simply updating fees. Merging three programmes and overhauling the CRS will require significant regulatory amendments. The fact that IRCC shared detailed proposals with immigration lawyers and sought input from stakeholders shows that the department is serious about pushing ahead — but the scale of this reform means implementation could take quite some time.