Canada Removes Arranged Employment Points for Express Entry

Effective March 25, 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has repealed its policy awarding either 50 or 200 points for qualifying offers of arranged employment for Express Entry in Canada. This change is effective immediately. Candidates with Express Entry profiles with recorded points for a qualifying job offer through a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or work for one year on a closed work permit will see the additional Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points removed. IRCC has noted it may take a few days for the CRS points to be updated in a candidate’s profile. Candidates who have already received an invitation to apply (ITA) that have not expired or have not been declined, or who have a permanent residence application in progress, are not affected by the change.

What this means for our clients

The new policy comes on the heels of IRCC’s December 2024 announcement regarding the removal of job offer points from the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System in order to combat fraudulent LMIAs. The removal of arranged employment points may negatively impact holders of closed work permits who have traditionally relied on these points to make themselves competitive enough to receive an ITA. These candidates will now need to rely more heavily on points for age, previous employment, and language scores. Current Express Entry CRS scores for generalized Canadian Experience Class applicants have been unprecedentedly high in the last year – within the 507 to 549 range. Many qualified individuals in Canada are not able to meet this range and are therefore unable to receive an ITA unless they qualify under a targeted stream or hold a nomination from the province under a Provincial Nominee Program. Given these difficulties, employers may need to support employees with the continuous renewal of work permits, since permanent residence under Express Entry will be harder for employees to obtain.