High-wage occupations and the new CRS points

Check your score under both sets of rules in the CRS calculator: choose "Rules from November 3, 2026" and enter your high-wage level. You can look up the level of any NOC code there too.

What changes on November 3, 2026

• The core Canadian work experience factor becomes the Labour Market Integration factor: up to 150 points single, 140 with a partner who counts.
• You get the higher of two options, never both: Canadian work experience points (length plus high-wage points) or job offer points.
• Job offer points come back, but only for offers in a high-wage occupation: 100, 70 or 50 points.
• A job offer no longer needs a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), for CRS points or for program eligibility, and an LMIA gives no extra points or priority.
• Skill transferability points do not change: they still use the length of your Canadian work experience.
• IRCC recalculates every profile in the pool, which can take up to two weeks, and pauses rounds of invitations until it is done.

Canadian work experience points

Work-length points are the same as today's Canadian work experience points, for skilled work (TEER 0 to 3) in Canada:

High-wage points are added on top when at least 12 months (1,560 hours) of that qualifying experience were in high-wage occupations. The months can be continuous or not, full time or the same amount part time, and spread across several high-wage jobs; with two jobs at once, only up to 30 hours a week count.

So the most a single applicant can get from work experience is 80 + 70 = 150 points, and 70 + 70 = 140 with a partner who counts.

Job offer points

The offer must be valid under Express Entry and be for a job in a high-wage occupation. It can be for an existing or a new position, with an existing or a new employer. An officer checks that the offer is genuine when you apply for permanent residence.

A job offer outside the list can still make you eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades Program, in any TEER 0 to 3 job; it just adds no CRS points. IRCC says its online profile will not reflect the change at first: if you have an offer without an LMIA, you still answer that a positive LMIA was issued and enter the placeholder details IRCC publishes on its changes page.

How IRCC decides which jobs are high-wage

A job counts when the median wage of everyone in Canada working in that NOC code is at least 1.3 times the average median wage of the Canadian workforce. It depends on the occupation, not on your own salary. IRCC uses Job Bank, the Labour Force Survey and the Census over the last 3 years (the list in force from November 3, 2026 uses data from 2023 to 2025), and each NOC takes the highest level it reached in those years. If the list changes after you are invited, IRCC keeps the level that applied on the date of your invitation.

The list: 186 high-wage occupations

Median wage at least twice the average median wage (31 occupations)

Median wage at least 1.5 times, but less than twice, the average median wage (89 occupations)

Median wage at least 1.3 times, but less than 1.5 times, the average median wage (66 occupations)

Sources

• Express Entry: What has changed, IRCC, modified October 16, 2026
• High-wage occupations and how we assess them, IRCC, modified October 16, 2026
• CRS criteria, IRCC, modified October 16, 2026