What was published on November 3
IRCC announced the Express Entry changes on October 16, 2026 and said they would take effect on November 3. On November 3 it published the two legal texts that make them official.
The first is the Ministerial Instructions Amending the Ministerial Instructions Respecting the Express Entry System, 2026-1, signed by the Minister on October 15, 2026 and in effect from November 3. The Express Entry instructions page now lists a consolidated version "in force since November 3, 2026" and has archived the version that applied from March 25, 2025 to November 2, 2026. The second is a temporary public policy under section 25.2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) and Federal Skilled Trades (FST) applicants. It also took effect on November 3 and stays in effect until the Minister revokes it.
Our October 16 article and the November 2 checklist explain the points themselves. This article covers what the published texts add.
The CRS now adds up to 1,270 points
The amended instructions replace the "Canadian work experience" item in the core human capital factors with a new item called labour market integration. Because the high-wage experience points sit inside this factor, the maximums change:
| Maximum points | Without an accompanying spouse or partner | With an accompanying spouse or partner |
|---|---|---|
| Labour market integration factor | 150 | 140 |
| Core human capital factors (total) | 570 | 530 |
| Whole Comprehensive Ranking System | 1,270 | |
Within the factor, a candidate receives the greater of two amounts: the points for Canadian work experience (the existing points by length, plus 70, 40 or 20 points for at least one year in a high-wage occupation at the 2.0, 1.5 or 1.3 wage level), or the points for a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation (100, 70 or 50). The two are not added together. The three levels follow the list IRCC publishes on its website, as it stands on the day an invitation is issued; the list is built from Job Bank, Labour Force Survey and Census data and can be amended.
The text also fixes the rules for counting Canadian work experience: within the 10 years before points are assigned, in a TEER 0 to 3 occupation, paid by wages or commission, at least 30 hours a week for full-time, with the five-digit NOC code given in the profile. Full-time study, self-employment and unauthorized work do not count, and the candidate must have held temporary resident status throughout.
What a qualifying offer of employment now means
The old term "qualifying offer of arranged employment" is repealed. A qualifying offer of employment is an offer of full-time work in Canada (at least 30 hours a week) that continues for at least one year from the day the permanent resident visa is issued, from a single employer in a TEER 0 to 3 occupation, from up to two employers in a skilled trade, or in NOC 31100, 31101 or 31102 for physicians providing publicly funded medical services. Embassies, high commissions and consulates in Canada cannot make one. There is no longer any reference to an LMIA.
An offer counts only if an officer is satisfied that it is genuine. The listed factors are: the employer is actively engaged in the business; the offer matches the employer's reasonable needs and the employer can fulfil its terms; the candidate is qualified for the job and likely to accept and do it, as shown by past work experience or education; and the employer's past compliance with federal and provincial employment and recruitment laws. If the offer is revoked, it stops being a qualifying offer.
The public policy for FSW and FST applicants
CRS points are one thing; program eligibility is another. For FSW applicants, arranged employment earns points on the selection grid, and for FST applicants a job offer is one way to meet the program's requirements. Until now the Regulations required that offer to be backed by an LMIA or by employment with the employer named on the applicant's work permit.
The public policy lets officers exempt applicants from those requirements (subsection 82(2) and paragraph 83(1)(e) of the Regulations for FSW; paragraph 87.2(3)(d) for FST) when the application follows an Express Entry invitation issued on or after November 3, 2026 and the offer meets conditions that mirror the genuineness test above. IRCC's explanatory note says the LMIA requirement meant two separate assessments of the same offer, by Employment and Social Development Canada and by IRCC, and discouraged employers from supporting workers already on their payroll. Job-offer assessment is now a single process led by IRCC. All other admissibility and selection rules continue to apply.
What this means in practice
Candidates with no job offer and no high-wage Canadian experience need do nothing: their score is recalculated automatically. IRCC's "What is changing" page still says the recalculation may take up to two weeks and that invitation rounds pause meanwhile. It also keeps the workaround for candidates with a job offer and no LMIA: until the online profile is updated, answer "Yes" to the LMIA question and enter LMIA number 00000, issue date 2026-01-01 and expiry date 2029-01-01. For FSW and FST eligibility, a qualifying job offer does not have to be in a high-wage occupation; any eligible TEER 0 to 3 job that meets the program requirements may count, even if it earns no CRS job-offer points.
Official sources
- IRCC: Ministerial Instructions Amending the Ministerial Instructions Respecting the Express Entry System, 2026-1
- IRCC: Ministerial Instructions respecting the Express Entry system
- IRCC: Temporary public policy to exempt LMIAs and related requirements for qualifying job offers (FSW and FST)
- IRCC: 2026 changes to points for Canadian work experience and job offers