Canada is overhauling part of its skilled immigration selection system to favour candidates with Canadian work experience or job offers in well-paying occupations, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced Friday.
Under the changes, which take effect Nov. 3, candidates with at least one year of Canadian work experience in one of 186 high-wage occupations, or who receive a job offer in one of those fields, will receive bonus points in the Comprehensive Ranking System used to rank Express Entry candidates competing for permanent residence. Qualifying candidates can see their scores boosted by as many as 150 points.
Diab called the move the first step in a broader set of reforms to Express Entry, which ranks candidates out of 1,200 points based on factors including age, education, language ability and work experience. “These changes are the first practical steps of broader Express Entry reforms,” she said, adding “more’s coming.”
How a High-Wage Job Is Defined
The Immigration Department defines a high-wage occupation as one where typical pay is at least 1.3 times the median Canadian wage for that occupation, based on data from the job bank, labour force survey and census over the previous three years. The threshold applies regardless of what an individual candidate currently earns. Qualifying fields include health care, skilled trades, engineering, technology and education.
The department will maintain and update the list of qualifying occupations. Candidates already in the Express Entry pool will have their scores recalculated automatically, but anyone seeking points for a job offer must update their online profile with supporting documentation before Nov. 3.
Dropping the Employer Approval Requirement
As part of the changes, a job offer will no longer require review by Employment and Social Development Canada, a process that previously could include a Labour Market Impact Assessment requiring employers to justify hiring a foreign worker. Instead, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will be solely responsible for verifying that job offers are genuine.
“To maintain strong verification systems and to prevent fraud, my officials at IRCC will now assess job offers directly,” Diab told reporters. “We’re cutting red tape, but let me be clear, we are not cutting corners.”
The department had removed points for job offers altogether in early 2025 following concerns about fraud by employers and recruitment agents exploiting the scoring system.
Reaction and Context
A consultation report on Express Entry reforms, released a day before the announcement, found general support for rewarding candidates in high-wage occupations, but also raised concerns that the approach could exclude younger candidates or those working in occupations facing labour shortages that do not meet the high-wage threshold.
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said the changes do not address protections for migrant workers in lower-paid but essential sectors such as care work, agriculture, food processing and cleaning. The group’s executive director, Syed Hussan, said wage levels reflect historical discrimination rather than purely skill or contribution, and that the government is now using those wage gaps to determine who qualifies for permanent residence.
When asked about the direction of Canada’s upcoming immigration targets, including Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent reference to a “controlled increase” in population, Diab said the government’s growth agenda remains “ambitious” and will continue to rely on immigration to fill labour gaps over the next decade. She said further details would come with the government’s next immigration levels plan.
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