Canada’s Express Entry system ranks candidates on the basis of their qualifications, age, experience, and language skills among other factors. Till now, candidates who had a valid job offer were granted bonus points in the range of 50 to 200, for arranged employment, in the form of Comprehensive Ranking System or CRS.
Starting 25 March 2025, this system of bonus points has been done away with. That means candidates will see their CRS scores dropping as their valid job offers will not earn them any bonus points, as per the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Short-term physician job offers will also cease to be considered arranged employment.
These scores were used to their advantage by many candidates to obtain permanent residency. Though this termination of bonus points was said to be a temporary measure, the IRCC has not said for how long this rule will be in place.
This change is applicable to candidates who are in the Express Entry pool at present. Those who were lucky enough to get Invitations to Apply (ITAs) or whose PR applications are in progress will remain unaffected.
This change in points’ allocation is expected to control fraud and prevent people from misusing job offers for illegal immigration purposes.
However, the Federal Skilled Worker Programme and certain Provincial Nominee Programmes (PNP) will still require a valid job offer to determine eligibility.
