On March 25, 2025, the Government of Canada officially removed arranged employment points from the Express Entry system. This change is effective immediately. From now on, candidates will no longer receive the 50 or 200 points previously awarded for arranged employment.
What Are Arranged Employment Points?
Previously, you could earn additional CRS points if you had a valid job offer backed by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or certain LMIA-exempt work permits. Specifically, you could qualify if:
- You had a valid, unexpired LMIA for a NOC TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 position, along with a permanent, full-time job offer from the same employer listed on the LMIA.
- You held a valid work permit based on that LMIA, again supported by a permanent, full-time job offer from the employer named on the permit.
- You had worked in Canada for at least one continuous year in a full-time role, with an LMIA-exempt work permit naming your employer, and that employer offered you a permanent, full-time job in a NOC TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation.
Please note that open work permits were never eligible for arranged employment points.
What Does This Mean for You?
If you have not yet received an Invitation to Apply (ITA), this change will affect you. The government is automatically removing arranged employment points from all Express Entry profiles as of today. You do not need to update your profile manually—the system will adjust it for you.
If you haven’t submitted your profile yet, these points will no longer be available moving forward.
How This Change Might Impact Your Chances
We don’t yet know how many candidates in the pool are affected, but if your profile previously included arranged employment points, your Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score will drop by either 50 or 200 points. This will be the case for all other affected candidates as well, which may shift the overall rankings.
If you did not have arranged employment points, your score will remain the same – and there’s a chance that some candidates who were ahead of you may now fall below your ranking.
What Next Steps Should You Take?
At this stage, we recommend to monitor how this change plays out. It’s too soon to know how future draws will be impacted, how many invitations Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will issue, or whether there will be targeted draws for specific occupations.
What we do know is that IRCC’s current focus for 2025 includes:
- French-speaking candidates
- Canadian Experience Class (CEC) eligible applicants
- Workers in priority sectors, particularly healthcare, education, and skilled trades
We’ll continue to monitor the situation closely and reassess your strategy as new information becomes available.
Do You Need Help Re-Assessing Your Express Entry Application?
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