Effective November 3, 2026, the CRS points for high-wage occupations are being boosted.
Why the change?
Enable EE applicants in high-skilled occupations to succeed, as they typically lose points for age in the competitive EE system. The Applicants in the eligible high-wage occupations are expected to bring skills that are required to build a more resilient, productive and growth-oriented Canadian economy. The focus appears to be on medium- to longer-term labour market compared to the short-term or immediate labour market needs that the other EE initiatives (PNP/ Category-based draws) target.
How is it being implemented?
The change is introduced through a revamp of EE CRS calculation. A new factor – Labour Market Integration – is being introduced in the CRS.
The Labour Market Integration (LMI) factor awards points for either
- Canadian Work Experience in an eligible high-wage occupation – upto 140/150 points
- Qualifying Job Offer in an eligible high-wage occupation – upto 100 points
LMIA irrelevant?
For points under the Qualifying Job Offer, an LMIA is not a requirement, and having an LMIA offers no advantages to the Applicant.
What’s a high-wage occupation?
A high‑wage occupation is one where the median wage for workers in that specific occupation (based on NOC classification) is at least 1.3 times higher than the median wage of all workers across Canada.
IRCC has provided a list of eligible High-wage occupations https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/check-score/high-wage.html#list
All Applicants with either a Canadian work experience or a Qualifying Job Offer in an occupation on the list of eligible High-wage occupations will be awarded the LMI points.
2 points to remember:
- An Applicant working in an occupation included in the list, but earning a lower wage is eligible to receive the LMIA points.
- An Applicant earning a high wage but working in an occupation not included in the list, will not receive the LMIA points.
A review of the 186 occupations included appears to suggest as follows:
- As would be expected, all Management Occupations are included (Occupational Category 0 positions) as are majority of The TEER 0 management occupatons.
- 48 occupations are found on the occupations lists of the category-based draws (of the total 91 on that list)
How much is the CRS Boost?
Canadian work experience points now combine two components:
- work‑length points (unchanged from current CRS rules) and top out at 70/80 points. Effectively, there’s no change in the points for the Canadian work experience factor.
- high‑wage occupation points, are the additional CRS points to reward experience in an eligible high-wage occupation, and are awarded based on whether the median wage for the occupation is at least 1.3×, 1.5×, or 2× the national median wage.
Point of interest: The level for each high-wage occupation is based on the highest median wage for that NOC in the last 3 years.
Qualifying Job Offer Points (Reintroduced)
Authority derived from R 82 (Arranged Employment), and Section 29 of the Ministerial Instructions for Express Entry.
The CRS boost for this factor is 50 points (for 1.3x level), 70 points (for 1.5x level) and 100 points (for 2.0 x level)
- A job offer letter from a non-ineligible Canadian business
- May be current employer or a new employer
- May be current employer or a new position
- No LMIA required
In practice, this would take a form of a job offer letter from Canadian business.
An additional submission from the Canadian business offering the job would be a strong asset in the genuineness assessment for the Officer.
One should also consider supporting the Job Offer with additional documents, depending upon the circumstances like current and past LMIA from the same employer, Business size, past record of the Canadian business as also the Applicant.
A few notes:
- No stated restrictions on geographical location of the applicant
- No stated requirement of past Canadian work experience or any type of association with Canadian labour market – this would be a major factor in genuineness assessment
