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New Express Entry Points: Who Qualifies (And What To Do Before Nov 3) · Border Banter: An Immigration Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you have an express entry profile in the pool right now, you might see your score increase.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: On October 16th, IRTC announced a set of changes to how points get awarded for high wage occupations.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For some people, those changes could increase their score significantly.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes as high as 140 points.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And in an express entry, 140 points can be the difference between watching, draw after draw, and actually getting it right.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're hoping to get additional points, you need to update your profile before that date.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to walk you through four things.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: What does that actually mean for people sitting in the express entry pool?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Will some candidates see their scores increase?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Does having a job offer suddenly make it easier to get permanent residence?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what should applicants do before November 3rd?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sonia Siddu, and I'm an immigration lawyer here at Greenland's Fable, Canada's largest immigration law firm.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this is Borderbank.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people confuse express entry as an immigration pathway to Canada.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually a system that the Canadian government created.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, you go into the system, the system takes care of numerous immigration pathways, like the CEC, the Canadian Work Experience, the FSW, Federal Skilled Worker.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you go into you make a profile.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So hey, I'm Sonia.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am X years old.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: My education is this, my language ability is this.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I make a profile.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, the best way I always describe it to people is it's pretend you're making a profile, a dating profile, and you're entering who you are, your, you know, your skills, your language abilities, your education, your work experience.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then the system then gives you points, which are known as the CRS points.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go into a pool and you're competing with everybody else that wants permanent residency in Canada.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's people from overseas, people from Canada, and you wait for the government to send you an invitation to apply.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And your invitation to apply is based on your score.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a score that the government says, hey, you know, maybe everybody with 510 points or higher, we're going to send you an invitation to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Go check your emails and then complete the application to apply.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if I said I was 40, now when I get this invitation, immigration wants to know and make sure you're not catfishing them.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: They want to make sure you are this age, you have this education, you have this language ability.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So everything you put in your profile, now they want you to prove it with the documentation.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And once you've completed that documentation, then it takes about six to eight months for them to assess the application and say, hey, are we going to issue you permanent residency or are we not because of X, Y, and Z?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: What are CRS points?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important to know, you know, we have eligibility for immigration pathways.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is one thing.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: But even if you're eligible, it doesn't mean that you will for sure get an invitation to apply for PR because now you have to go through a ranking system, which is the CRS score, the comprehensive ranking system.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So everything you put in your profile, your age, your education, your language ability gives you points.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go into this pool with an X amount of points, and that is what you're ranked against for everybody.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the points that immigration will come in and draw at.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And what they can do, they can draw based on Canadian work experience.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: They can draw based on federal skilled work experience, or they can do category-based draw.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they're saying, hey, everybody in our list of healthcare in-demand occupations, we're inviting them.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So say you had 530 points and the cutoff was 490, but it was for her healthcare draw.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not in the healthcare industry and your job doesn't fall on that list, you still wouldn't get an invite, even though you're eligible for CEC.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: History of job offer points.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: In the previous CRS system in Express Entry, individuals were getting points if they had a job offer and it had to be a qualifying job offer.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And there's very various parameters around it.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And in 2025, early 2025, the government shut that down and said no more points for job offers.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that was because they had said that they're seeing a lot of fraud and they need to clean this up and they're going to take away the points and maybe eventually reintroduce them.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that is exactly what they're doing now.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So they took them away.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're reintroducing them with different parameters.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And those parameters are what is really being announced now.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to see ministerial instructions come out on November 3rd, hopefully, they have said.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really going to play into hey, what are these qualifying jobs?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: What are the points?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And who qualifies?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Previously, if you had an open work permit, there was no points for a job offer in the CRS points system.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: With this October 16th announcement, there is indication that there is points, even if you have an open work permit.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's going to be really interesting how this plays out and what is going to be the parameters holding the points for job offers, even if they're open work permits.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: What changes did IRCC announce on October 16, 2026?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: There were a few major pieces to this announcement.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: One was, you know, the whole change of how qualifying job offers are going to be assessed for certain programs, like the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trade Program.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: So like the Federal Skilled Worker Program has a threshold that you have to have 67 points to meet the eligibility of that program.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So they're saying there's going to be a change on how the qualifying job offers are assessed for that program.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then the introduction for the CRS points connected to the job offer or connected to Canadian work experience in a high wage occupation.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: The key word is like people, you know, are getting all excited.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're saying we're going to get more points because we have a job offer.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you got to make sure, you know, your occupation is on the high wage occupation list.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the list, there's three lists.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's, you know, the average median wage.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if your jobs are median wage is two times higher than the average median wage, you'll be on the first list.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there's one list that is 1.5 times higher, and then a list for 1.3 times higher.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: 1.3 times will give you an X amount of points.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: 1.5 will give you more points.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And two times more will give you more points.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a calculation that's going to come together to say, hey, how many points will you get for this high wage occupation?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping in mind you have to be on the list.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: If your occupation is not on that list, these changes don't affect you.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping in mind you get extra points if you have Canadian work experience in a high wage occupation.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's points being introduced for qualifying job offers.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: But what they have said, it's either or.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have to see which category you score more points in.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the points that you'll get.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a, hey, I'll get points for Canadian work experience with a qualifying job offer in a high wage occupation plus points for a qualifying job offer.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll do a calculation of what's better.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: The most points you can get for a qualifying job offer is a hundred.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So a majority of the time you're going to see individuals with Canadian work experience in one of these high wage occupations probably get more points if they use their Canadian work experience plus the high wage occupation points versus the job offer points.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then the third change that really was announced was starting November 3rd, a qualifying job offer will no longer need an LMIA to receive points under the express entry, which is very new.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we're working through what the parameters of that really are going to be.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: LMIA is a labor market impact assessment.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a you know a separate entity that assesses the labor market need for that occupation.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if there is a labor market need for it, that Canadian citizens or PRs of Canada, permanent residents of Canada, cannot fail, then you are given a LMIA document and that foreign national can take that LMIA and apply for a work permit to work in Canada under that job.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: The company has to be able to prove that employers cannot find the Canadian citizens or PRs to do this job.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to also keep in mind LMIAs are not out the door.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: LMIAs are still going to be needed if you want to come to Canada and work temporarily and there's no LMIA exempt pathway.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: But qualifying job offers to get the points under express entry no longer require an LMIA.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is this a new immigration system?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, the system is still the express entry system.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The CRS scores are still there.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: The programs, the CEC, FSW, they still remain the same.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's hey, what are you getting points for?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: What are the CRS points that are actually changing and how are they going to be applied?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's really what's changing.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Does this mean anyone earning a high salary can get more points and be invited under this system?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what your salary is.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: It matters what the median wage is in your occupation.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you could be an executive assistant making$150,000 a year, that doesn't mean that you're going to get extra points if your occupation as a median wage isn't$1.5 or$1.3 or two times higher than the average median wage in Canada.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not about what you're making, it's about what the average median wage is versus what the median wage for your occupation is.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Also on the flip side, like if you have a senior manager or a C-suite individual who is getting paid$50,000, where the average median wage might be$150,000, you're also going to see scrutiny because they're going to look at, hey, is this a genuine job offer or is this a genuine job that has been completed?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it goes both ways, not just about the salary to get more points, is not to fall on that list if it doesn't make sense, right?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been a C-suite executive and all of a sudden you are and your wage doesn't match it, you're going to go through the scrutiny of is this a genuine job offer or is this genuine work experience?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that scrutiny will still be there.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It depends.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so look, you're going to look at does your job fall on that list?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: If it does, you're going to get extra points.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: But beyond that, a lot of it is unknown.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know how many people in that pool are going to get extra points, what extra points they're going to get, what level they're going to end up at, and what the draws are going to be.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't automatically mean that, hey, if I'm on this list, I'm going to be getting an invite.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're still competing with everybody in that pool.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really hard to anybody to determine who's in that pool and where you will sit accordingly when these points are updated.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: What do you need to do by November 3rd, 2026?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the government has announced that they want everybody to update their profiles by November 3rd, 2026, if these changes affect you.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that, they're going to take a couple of weeks to make sure there's no glitches.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're not going to do invites for two weeks after that.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then hopefully we will see what the trends are, how things are being invited.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So right now, anybody that does qualify for any of these changes and increases in the CRS score should go in and update their profiles accordingly.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: IRCC has put out guidance of how to update your profiles and they've given very clear instructions of what you should be putting in there.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that should be done before November 3rd.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now we have no idea if after November 3rd, are they going to like pause the portal that you cannot update?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know if they're going to say, if you haven't updated it, we're going to boot you out of the portal.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what we're advising people is before November 3rd, make those changes and don't rely on we'll do it after once we see what all the parameters are.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a link in the description that you know will provide you the guidance of how IRCC has advised to complete the profile updates so you could scroll down and take a look.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions regarding the Express Entry update, email me at podcastagans.com.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you want to book a consultation with a lawyer here at Green Spagel, click the link in the description below.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you on the next episode of Board of Runter.