Canada removes bonus CRS points for arranged employment from Express Entry

Express Entry candidates will no longer receive extra Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for having a valid job offer, including offers supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

The change took place in the Ministerial Instructions effective March 25, 2025.

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Prior to this change, Express Entry candidates could receive an additional 50 or 200 CRS points for arranged employment, making them much more likely to receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residence (PR) through Express Entry.

This change affects the CRS scores of all candidates in the Express Entry pool who previously had additional points for arranged employment.

Candidates who have already received ITAs or who have PR applications in progress are not affected.

In a press release on December 23, 2024, IRCC stated that the removal of additional points is a temporary measure, but did not say when the measure would conclude.

The March 25, 2025 version of the Ministerial Instructions has retained the majority of the sections describing what constitutes a qualifying offer of arranged employment, despite having removed the section which awards points for such an offer.

On their CRS webpage, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) notes that "it may take a few days" for candidates' new scores to show correctly, and requests that affected candidates not contact them unless their score remains incorrect for over a week.

A valid job offer will still be relevant for eligibility criteria for the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and for some Provincial Nominee Program streams.

How will this change impact Express Entry candidates?

Now that this change has taken effect, candidates with valid job offers will see their CRS scores decrease by the amount they had been awarded for their valid job offer (50 or 200).

This means that individuals with valid job offers will have a reduced chance of receiving ITAs through Express Entry.

On the other hand, candidates who do not have a valid job offer can expect to see their chances of receiving an ITA increase, because while their scores will stay the same, the scores of other candidates in the pool will have decreased.

An example

Take the case of two fictitious Express Entry candidates, Andrew and Anita, who both qualify for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) pathway to PR.

Prior to the change, their CRS points total were as follows:

Andrew: 540 (with 50 additional points due to a job offer).
Anita: 500.

This gave Andrew a huge advantage over Anita. However, due to the recent change, Andrew lost the 50 extra points. Their scores are now as follows:

Andrew: 490.
Anita: 500.

In an upcoming CEC draw, if the CRS cutoff is 495, Anita will receive an ITA and Andrew will not.

Change to qualifying arranged employment for physicians

Under these updated Ministerial Instructions, IRCC also removed a section expanding qualifying arranged employment for physicians.

This section—29 (4)—allowed physicians' offers of employment for less than one year to qualify, provided that their job offer was made by a provincial government, government agency, government-appointed agency, or healthcare providing organization.

How does Canada’s Comprehensive Ranking System work?

CRS is a points-based system that assesses eligible candidates and ranks them in the Express Entry pool.

Because Express Entry is extremely competitive, additional CRS points, such as those previously awarded for a valid job offer, can often spell the difference between obtaining PR, or not being able to immigrate to Canada.

This applies to candidates applying under

The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP);
The Canadian Experience Class (CEC); or
The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

Candidates are assigned a score out of 1200 based on a variety of factors, including

Age;
Education;
Language proficiency; and
Work experience.

Other factors through which candidates can score additional points include

French language skills;
Post-secondary education in Canada;
Having a sibling living in Canada as a Canadian citizen or permanent resident; and
Having a provincial or territorial nomination.

The government holds frequent draws, and the highest-ranking candidates are invited to apply for PR.

Why did Canada remove valid job offer CRS points from Express Entry?

Former Immigration Minister Marc Miller first announced plans for the change in CRS points on December 17, 2024.

At the time, Miller said that this would eliminate incentives for candidates to “purchase an LMIA,” a practice that is illegal in Canada.

The federal government has since stated that this measure will help reduce fraud and “strengthen the integrity of Canada’s immigration system.”

The federal government has been cracking down on immigration fraud over the last few months.

Earlier this year, IRCC proposed a number of new regulations to combat fraud, including creating a compensation fund for victims of unethical immigration consultants.

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