Express Entry: What candidates need to know about claiming foreign work experience

Gaining foreign work experience can be one of the quickest ways to boost one’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score under Express Entry—especially through skill transferability points. But it’s also one of the easiest factors to get wrong.

When Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reviews a permanent residence (PR) application, immigration officers don’t just look at the information you’ve declared in your Express Entry profile.

See your eligibility for all Express Entry streams

They assess what proof you have to support that you genuinely possess the work experience and qualifications you claimed when you received your Invitation to Apply (ITA)—and they can refuse an application if your points drop below the minimum score for the draw you were invited under.

Below are the key risks and rules candidates should understand before claiming foreign work experience.

Why work experience can make or break a PR application

Work experience can affect your CRS score in two main ways:

• Direct CRS points for years of Canadian skilled work experience; and
• Skill transferability points for foreign work experience, especially when combined with strong language scores (and/or Canadian work experience).

Because your CRS score is central to whether you were eligible to receive your ITA, any change to your claimed work experience can trigger a refusal if points fall below the cut-off threshold for the draw you were invited under.

Not declaring foreign work history in earlier IRCC applications can come back later

Many temporary residence applications (study permits, work permits, visitor visas) ask applicants to list work and personal history. Some applicants leave out older foreign jobs—especially if they think the work is “irrelevant” to that particular application.

The issue with this course of action is that IRCC retains a significant amount of applicant information and may rely on it later when reviewing a PR application.

IRCC’s own Info Source descriptions confirm that Express Entry profile information and economic PR records can be retained for years, and that temporary resident records (including those of international students and temporary foreign workers) are also retained for a period after the last administrative action.

For both economic PR and study permit application streams, IRCC collects biographical information such as education and employment/work history (as previously reported by CIC News based on IRCC resources), as well as immigration history, including prior Canadian applications—and that this information supports eligibility assessment and fraud detection/compliance.

If you suddenly claim points for a foreign job that you did not disclose in earlier applications, IRCC may ask questions such as:

• Why was the job omitted previously?
• Was information withheld to avoid scrutiny?
• Do the documents match what you previously declared (e.g., dates, duties, locations, and employer details)?

Practical takeaway: if there’s an inconsistency, it’s often better to address it head-on with a clear explanation (usually in the form of a declaration) and strong documentation, rather than simply hoping it will go unnoticed.

Work during full-time study is a major trap—especially for CEC

For the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) explicitly exclude any work experience acquired while engaged in full-time study.

IRCC’s operational guidance similarly notes that for a student who graduated from a Canadian post-secondary institution, only work experience gained after graduation counts toward meeting CEC’s work requirement, and is valid for CRS points.

This means that CEC candidates cannot count any foreign work experience gained during their studies to boost their CRS score, and can therefore be a pitfall to application refusal if counted.

Why can this lead to refusal?

Even if you still meet CEC’s minimum requirements, removing ineligible work experience can reduce your CRS score because of the significant impact it has on raising your points. If your newly revised score drops below the cut-off for your invitation round, IRCC will refuse your application for no longer meeting draw requirements.

Some candidates assume foreign work experience does not count if it was earned while they were full-time students abroad, which is not automatically the case—this only applies to the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Federal Skills Trades Program (FSTP).

Other important rules and considerations

In addition to the above considerations, foreign work experience must meet the minimum requirements for all work experience to be viable under Express Entry. This includes the following:

1) The job must be “skilled” for Express Entry points, and timely for eligibility

Foreign work experience points are tied to skilled work, which includes TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupations, and it must fall within the window of time defined in the Ministerial Instructions.

For example, under the FSWP, any work experience claimed to meet eligibility requirements must have been obtained within the last 10 years. Similarly, for the FSTP, work experience must have been obtained within the last five years.

2) You can’t “double count” hours above full-time

For Express Entry purposes, more than 30 hours per week doesn’t help you meet the minimum work experience requirements “faster.” Regulations limit how hours are counted, meaning extra hours cannot compensate for a shorter overall work period.

3) To be considered “work,” it must be paid

Under Canada’s IRPR, “work” is defined as an activity for which wages are paid, or commission is earned (or certain competitive activities in the labour market, such as being a salaried employee or an independent contractor).

This is why candidates can expect IRCC to look for credible proof of remuneration and employment genuineness when claiming points.

4) Your NOC/TEER choice must match what work is performed

For any Express Entry program (and for credibility purposes in general), the Regulations require that a person perform the actions in the lead statement and a substantial number of the main duties of the occupation, as described in the corresponding National Occupation Classification (NOC) system for their occupation.

For more information on finding the correct NOC for your work experience, visit our dedicated article.

5) The risk of misrepresentation

If IRCC believes an applicant withheld or misrepresented material facts, that can trigger inadmissibility for misrepresentation. This can lead to not just a refusal of your application, but also a potential ban on applying to future immigration programs for a set number of years, and a monetary fine.

IRCC also publicly states it uses program integrity measures and pursues misrepresentation as part of combating immigration and citizenship fraud.

It should be noted that misrepresentation can occur even when not intended, and can be found retroactively—applicants can even be found guilty of misrepresentation from information they included in previous applications.

See your eligibility for all Express Entry streams