Overview
- IRCC announced on Oct. 16 that the new Comprehensive Ranking System rules take effect on Nov. 3, 2026.
- The revised system awards up to 100 CRS points for qualifying high‑wage job offers and up to 70 points for eligible Canadian high‑wage work experience.
- A Labour Market Impact Assessment will no longer be required for a qualifying job offer to count for points or to meet job‑offer rules under the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs.
- IRCC is automatically recalculating scores for the roughly 229,000 candidates in the Express Entry pool and has paused invitation rounds while recalculation proceeds, a process the department says may take up to two weeks.
- IRCC will use Job Bank, the Labour Force Survey and the Census to identify 'high‑wage' occupations and the change could shift rankings most for candidates in engineering, health, technology and skilled trades and for those with Canadian work ties.