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ARTICLE · 30 OCTOBER 2026

IRCC Announces Changes To Express Entry Bonus Points To Reward High-wage Occupations

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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has introduced significant changes to the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System, implementing a new Labour Market Integration Factor...

CanadaImmigration
Jessica Jensen
Jessica Jensen
Reis Pagtakhan
Reis Pagtakhan
Tobey Xiang
Tobey Xiang
Patricia Bagnas
Patricia Bagnas
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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently announced upcoming changes to the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), coming into effect on November 3, 2026.

A new Labour Market Integration Factor will be added to the points system, awarding candidates bonus points in certain situations, up to a maximum of 150 points. In doing so, a new concept is introduced to the system: High-wage occupations. An occupation is considered high wage when its national median wage rate  is at least 1.3 times higher than the national average median wage. A list of high-wage occupations is provided, breaking up all high-wage occupations into three groups:

  1. Occupations with a median wage at least twice the average median wage (e.g. engineering managers, nurse practitioners and professors)

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