What Express Entry is
Express Entry is the system Canada uses to manage permanent residence applications under three economic immigration programs:
- Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), for skilled workers with experience outside Canada.
- Canadian Experience Class (CEC), for those who already have skilled work experience in Canada.
- Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), for skilled trades.
It is not a program in itself, but a queue ordered by points. You create a profile, enter a pool of candidates, and the government periodically invites the highest-ranked to apply for permanent residence.
The CRS score: how it is calculated
The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) assigns you a score out of 1,200. For an applicant without a partner, the core factors are:
- Age: up to 110 points. The maximum falls between ages 20 and 29.
- Education: up to 150 points.
- First official language: up to 136 points.
- Second official language: up to 24 points.
- Canadian work experience: up to 80 points.
On top of that come skill transferability combinations, up to 100 points, for example strong education paired with strong English, and additional points:
- Provincial nomination: 600 points, which in practice place a profile well above the usual cut-off.
- Study in Canada: between 15 and 30 points.
- French: between 25 and 50 additional points.
- A sibling in Canada: 15 points.
Job offer points: removed in 2025, back in November 2026
Update, October 16, 2026: this section described the rule in force when the article was published. IRCC has announced that job offer points return on November 3, 2026 and that the LMIA requirement disappears. We cover it in detail in this article.
From March 25, 2025 to November 2, 2026, a job offer added no points to the CRS. Before that date it was worth 50 points, or 200 for a senior management position, and the government removed them for all candidates.
From November 3, 2026 they return, under a different rule: they count only if the occupation is on a list of 186 high-wage occupations, and are then worth 50, 70 or 100 points depending on the level. In an occupation outside that list, an offer still adds no CRS points, though it may serve for the eligibility of some programs.
Category-based selection: the new centre of the system
Alongside general rounds, Canada invites candidates through categories set by the Minister to meet specific needs. In a category round only candidates who meet that category compete, which is why cut-off scores tend to be lower than in general rounds. The categories in force in 2026 are:
- French-language proficiency.
- Healthcare and social services occupations.
- STEM occupations: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
- Trade occupations.
- Education occupations.
- Transport occupations.
- Physicians with Canadian work experience.
- Senior managers with Canadian work experience.
- Researchers with Canadian work experience.
- Skilled military recruits.
If your profile fits one of these categories, your strategy changes completely: instead of chasing a very high score, the goal is to meet the category requirements properly and be in the pool when the round opens.
How to improve your score in 2026
- Language: reaching CLB 9 or higher across all four abilities is the single strongest lever.
- French: beyond the additional points, it opens the French-language proficiency category, one of the most active.
- Education: a master's or doctorate adds points, and a Canadian credential adds more.
- Experience in Canada: studying or working in Canada feeds several factors at once.
- Provincial nomination: 600 points that transform a profile's position, although each province has its own criteria.
- Fitting a category: check whether your occupation appears in one of the ten; sometimes a small shift in profile makes it possible.
About cut-off scores
Cut-off scores vary a great deal depending on the type of round. A general round, a Canadian Experience Class round and a category round can have very different cut-offs in the same week. That is why we do not publish a number here: any figure goes stale within days. What we do instead is review the most recent rounds with you and tell you, with data, where you stand.
Want to know where you stand?
At Goldstone Immigration we analyse your profile against the rules in force, calculate your actual CRS, identify whether you fit a category and build a concrete plan to raise your score. Write to us and book an assessment.
Source: IRCC, Comprehensive Ranking System criteria and category-based selection, updated in June 2026.