Canada speeds wage-first push

Canada could start giving extra Express Entry points to higher-paid jobs before it finishes a broader rewrite of the system, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials cited after an April 21 webinar. (cicnews.com) Express Entry is Canada’s online system for managing permanent-residence applications from skilled workers, and it now covers the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Trades Program and part of the Provincial Nominee Program. Candidates enter a pool, receive a Comprehensive Ranking System score, and the government invites the highest-ranked profiles in rounds. (canada.ca) The new factor under discussion would reward candidates with Canadian work experience or a job offer in an occupation paid above Canada’s national median hourly wage, CIC News reported from the webinar notes. The same notes said the full package of Express Entry changes is still expected to take 12 to 18 months. (cicnews.com) That would move one piece of the overhaul ahead of bigger structural changes that officials have floated, including merging the three federal high-skilled programs into one stream and rewriting several scoring rules. An April 10 report on an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada consultation deck said the proposals also included reducing or removing points tied to some current factors and reviving job-offer value through the high-wage measure. (cicnews.com) Canada has already been shifting Express Entry toward targeted selection. On February 18, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced its 2026 categories, including foreign medical doctors with Canadian work experience, researchers, senior managers, transport occupations and selected military recruits, while keeping French-language, health-care, social-services and trades categories. (canada.ca) The wage-first idea fits the government’s current immigration plan. Canada’s 2026–2028 levels plan stabilizes permanent-resident admissions at 380,000 a year, cuts temporary-resident arrivals to 385,000 in 2026, and says economic immigration will make up 64% of admissions by 2027. (canada.ca) Officials have also been consulting on how much Express Entry should prioritize labour shortages versus broader access. In a 2025 consultation report, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said stakeholders backed category-based selection for shortages in areas such as health care, science, technology, engineering and math, and trades, while also saying general and program-specific draws still had value. (canada.ca) For applicants already in the pool, the April 21 webinar notes said scores would be recalculated when the change takes effect, while people who already received invitations to apply would be assessed under the rules in place when they were invited. The same notes said age-related points would not change. (cicnews.com) The result is a narrower near-term question for employers and workers: not only whether a job fits an Express Entry category, but whether its wage level could soon affect ranking. Ottawa has not published a final regulation for the change, but officials have signaled that this one factor may arrive before the rest of the overhaul. (cicnews.com)