Canada adds Express Entry points for high-wage job offers Nov. 3 and waives the LMIA

By the Citi Sighs Intelligence Desk — Toronto, October 26, 2026

TORONTO — Canada will again give skilled-immigration candidates ranking points for a job offer, this time only in high-wage occupations, and employers will no longer need a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) to make that offer count. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced the change on Oct. 16, and it is set to take effect on Nov. 3, 2026. Under IRCC's published rules, a qualifying offer in one of 186 listed occupations earns 50 to 100 Express Entry points, and Canadian work experience can earn up to 150 (140 for candidates with a spouse or partner).

For a Canadian firm that wants to hire an engineer from Lagos or a nurse from Accra into a permanent role, the LMIA waiver lifts what the Canadian Chamber of Commerce calls an administrative burden (Canadian HR Reporter). For a Nigerian or Ghanaian professional weighing Canada, a well-paid offer counts again for the first time since job-offer points were scrapped in March 2025, according to Canadian HR Reporter. The window is short: candidates who want job-offer points must add the offer to their profiles before Nov. 3; scores for people already in the pool are recalculated automatically, and invitation rounds will pause for up to two weeks while that happens.

What changed

IRCC is adding a new factor to the Comprehensive Ranking System, the score that decides who is invited to apply for permanent residence (IRCC):

• A new "Labour Market Integration" factor is worth up to 150 points. Candidates get points for Canadian work experience or a job offer, whichever scores higher, but not both. (IRCC)
• A job offer earns 100 points if the occupation's median wage is at least twice the national average median, 70 points at 1.5 times and 50 points at 1.3 times. Offers outside the high-wage list earn nothing. (IRCC)
• Canadian experience earns length-of-work points (up to 80, or 70 with a spouse) plus 20 to 70 more for at least 12 months in a high-wage occupation. (IRCC)
• An LMIA is no longer needed for an offer to earn points or to meet the job-offer rules of the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs. Holding one adds no points. (IRCC)
• The list holds 31 occupations at the 2x level, 89 at 1.5x and 66 at 1.3x. (IRCC)

Legal status: announced, and set to take effect Nov. 3. IRCC's pages do not name the legal instrument. The Canadian Press reported that the LMIA waiver comes through a temporary policy.

What it means in practice

Tiers follow the occupation, not the salary on the offer letter: an occupation qualifies when its national median wage clears the threshold (IRCC). Petroleum engineers, mining engineers and financial managers sit in the top tier. Software engineers and designers, software developers and programmers, civil engineers, and registered nurses (listed with registered psychiatric nurses) are at 1.5x. Financial auditors and accountants are at 1.3x (IRCC list).

The offer can come from a new or existing employer, for a new or existing position. An officer will still test whether it is genuine when the candidate applies for permanent residence (IRCC). The online form has not caught up: IRCC tells candidates to answer that a positive LMIA was issued and enter set placeholder values (IRCC). Candidates who are invited keep the tier that applied on their invitation date, even if the list later changes (IRCC).

Candidates still outside Canada can benefit if their occupation is on the list and the offer meets the rules, but BusinessDay notes that people already working in Canada gain the clearest advantage.

Context

Points for job offers were removed in March 2025 after reports that fake job offers were being sold to newcomers, Canadian HR Reporter reported, citing the Financial Post. IRCC ran a 2026 consultation on Express Entry reforms, and in February 2026 it added or renewed category draws for health care, skilled trades, research, transportation and education (IRCC).

What to watch next

• Nov. 3: the new points start and invitation rounds pause for up to two weeks (IRCC).
• Nov. 5: the federal budget is due (Globe and Mail); watch for any immigration measures.
• How often IRCC refreshes the high-wage list; the current one is based on 2023 to 2025 wage data (IRCC).

The case for and against

The case for: employers skip a costly approval step and get more predictability, a point made by Adam Hajji of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (Canadian HR Reporter).

The case against: the last version of job-offer points drew fraud, and immigration lawyer Zeynab Ziaie Moayyed expects IRCC to focus heavily on fake offers (Canadian HR Reporter). Canadian workers lose a check that required employers to show no qualified Canadian was available (The Canadian Press). Applicants abroad without Canadian experience compete against candidates who can claim up to 150 points. And for employers in Lagos, Abuja and Accra, easier Canadian hiring could mean stiffer competition for the senior engineers, developers and nurses they also need to keep, though the corridor may also gain through diaspora links, remittances and skills that return home.

What we could not verify

• The legal instrument behind the changes. IRCC's pages do not name it; the temporary-policy detail comes from The Canadian Press, and we did not find the instrument's text.
• Official 2025–26 Express Entry figures by citizenship for Nigeria and Ghana. We found only non-official tallies and did not use them.
• Any official reaction from the Ghanaian or Nigerian governments, or Ghanaian press coverage of the change.
• How applications already in process are treated; IRCC's rules page does not say.
• IRCC's rules page shows a flat 100 points for a job offer in its summary table but 50 to 100 in its tier table; we used the tier table.

Disclosure: Citi Sighs has no commercial relationship with any company or institution named in this article. This article is general information, not tax, legal or investment advice.