IEC work permit holders see earlier cut-off for bonus CRS points for valid job offers under Express Entry

Foreign nationals who hold an International Experience Canada (IEC) employer-specific work permit now no longer receive Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for arranged employment if their work permit was issued after December 18, 2024.

This change, resulting from changes to the authority under which IEC work permits are issued, affects work permit holders under the IEC’s Young Professionals work permit category.

The Young Professionals category of the IEC is the only work permit category of the IEC under which candidates could receive the additional 50 or 200 CRS points for having a valid job offer.

IEC work permit holders who had their permits issued before December 18, 2024 will continue to receive points for arranged employment, provided that they meet all other requirements for a valid job offer.

This points removal comes significantly sooner than the planned removal of all bonus CRS points for valid job offers, which is planned for spring of 2025.

This article will cover

• Implications for IEC work permit holders in the Express Entry pool; and
• Reasons for the change to work permit points.

See your eligibility for all Express Entry streams

Implications for IEC work permit holders in the Express Entry pool

Express Entry candidates currently receive points for new confirmed offers of employment, provided that the job offer meets eligibility requirements.

Candidates can receive an additional

• 200 CRS points for job offers at the National Occupation Classification (NOC) Training Education Experience and Responsibilities (TEER)* 0 level (managerial positions) that are part of major group 00; or
• 50 CRS points for job offers under other NOCs.

The NOC system is Canada’s method of categorizing and describing occupations in the country, organizing them by sector and industry. Parallel to this is the TEER system which assigns a level to each occupation in the NOC system, based on the requisite amount of training, education, and experience required to perform the responsibilities of the role.

The government has announced that the pending removal of all CRS points for arranged employment will take effect in the spring of 2025.

IEC work permit holders in the Express Entry candidate pool will therefore face an expedited timeline for the removal of CRS points related to their arranged employment.

This removal of these points means that some candidates in the Express Entry pool who currently claim arranged employment points via a Young Professionals work permit will lose either 50 or 200 CRS points—which represents a substantial shift in their chances of receiving an invitation to apply (ITA) through the Express Entry system.

Furthermore, IEC work permit holders who received their work permit after December 18, 2024, will see their points removed sooner than candidates who currently claim arranged employment points through other work permits. This may further negatively impact their chances at receiving an ITA, since some other candidates in the Express Entry pool can continue to benefit the additional CRS points for valid job offers until the spring.

According to an IRCC officer, the department is currently in the process of updating its systems and web content in accordance with the removal of these points.

Why did this change occur?

It is not clear why this change to arranged employment through the IEC Young Professionals category has taken place prior to the broader changes in the spring.

The immigration department first announced in December of 2024 that they intended to remove CRS points for candidates with arranged employment based on the desire to “reduce the potential for LMIA fraud”.

IRCC later confirmed that they planned to eliminate CRS points allocations for arranged employment in spring of 2025. The department also confirmed that this change will impact candidates in the Express Entry pool, but not those who have already submitted an application for permanent residence (PR), nor candidates who have received an ITA based on a previous CRS score that included points for arranged employment.

See your eligibility for all Express Entry streams