Canada to give Express Entry edge to high-paid foreign workers

Highly paid foreign workers will get extra credit when they apply for permanent residence in Canada.

Immigration Minister Lena Diab announced changes to Express Entry, the federal system used to select many economic immigrants. The system ranks candidates on factors including age, education, language ability and work experience.

Under the changes, applicants who have worked for at least a year in a high-wage job in Canada will receive additional points. Applicants with a high-paid job offer in Canada will also receive additional points, according to The Globe and Mail.

Doctors, engineers and programmers are among those expected to gain an advantage.

Ottawa defines a high-wage occupation as one where the median wage is at least 1.3 times the national median wage for all workers. The Immigration Department puts that national median at about $57,000.

The extra points would improve a candidate's place in the ranking and the chance of receiving an invitation to apply. Only candidates who receive an invitation can then apply for permanent residence through the system.

The shift follows the removal of job-offer points from the Comprehensive Ranking System, the points scale behind Express Entry, on March 25, 2025, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

In the draw held Oct. 15, 2026, officials issued 2,500 invitations, with the lowest-ranked candidate scoring 519.

Diab is expected to set out permanent and temporary resident targets for the next three years in late November or early December. The government has said it planned to move up to 33,000 temporary workers to permanent residence in 2026 and 2027, within a plan for 380,000 new permanent residents in 2026, maintained for the following two years.