Express Entry – LMIAs No Longer Necessary
Posted on 23/10/2026
If you’re a skilled worker looking to immigrate to Canada on a permanent resident visa, things will be a little easier as of November 3, 2026. Easier, however, does not always mean simpler. As usual, it’s all in the details.
Read on to find out.
The immigration authorities in Canada have realized that Express Entry and it’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) need to be more flexible to attract the kind of skilled labour Canada requires to keep growing. So here’s what’s changing:
- A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is no longer needed for a job offer to be eligible for Express Entry. But please note that IRCC officers will still assess the job offer to ensure it is valid and genuine.
- An LMIA will no longer add points to your CRS score. Remember the higher your CRS score, the more likely you are to be selected for a PR visa from your pool of candidates in Express Entry.
- A Labour Market Integration factor has been added to CRS points. For this new factor, you are awarded points for either:
- Canadian work experience: more points are awarded for more years experience, and more points are awarded for Canadian experience in high-wage occupations;
- Or, a qualifying high-wage job offer
- High-wage occupations are defined as those with at least 1.3 times the average of all wages in all occupations in the same NOC category. See the table below for more information.
- Job offers may now be for a new position as well as for an existing job. Additionally, the offer can be from a new employer as well as from an existing employer. However, case officers will still assess whether the job is genuine. This will include looking at the following:
- Is your employer active in the business (involved in its operations, for example)?
- Is your employer able to fulfill the terms of your offer?
- Does the job meet the employers’ needs?
- Does the the offer follow employment and recruitment laws?
- Can you perform the work?
- Are you qualified for that job?
- Will you accept the offer and actually work for the employer?
- An eligible job offer may NOT qualify for CRS high-wage occupation points. Or to put it the other way around, a job offer that is not for a high-wage occupation may still be eligible for Express Entry, but won’t get you those extra Labour Market Integration Factor points.
How does Express Entry calculate your Labour Market Integration factor?
As shown directly below the LMI factor is calculated by taking the maximum of the points awarded for work experience or the points awarded for qualifying job offer. You do not get points for both, only for the higher of the two.
Your Canadian work experience points will generally be higher than your job offer points, but not always. Here’s a table of the maximum possible points in each. Note that your maximum work experience points are slightly less points if you are with a spouse/common-law partner.
| Score points | With Spouse or Common-law partner | Without Spouse or Common-law partner |
| Canadian work experience | 140 points: 70 work-length70 high-wage experience | 150 points: 80 work-length70 high-wage experience |
| Qualifying job offer | 100 points | 100 points |
As you can see, you are awarded 10 additional work-length points if your Canadian work experience occurs when are without a spouse or common-law partner. Additionally, if for example you had a lower-wage occupation your Canadian work experience points might be less than you qualifying job offer points. However, in general work points tend to be higher. Again, your qualifying job offer does not have to have an LMIA, and that certainly is a welcome change for skilled workers.
How does Express Entry Determine High-Wage Occupations?
It’s based on the highest level a median wage reaches over the last 3 years. Canada’s Job Bank, Labour Force Survey, and Population Surveys provide the data. And please note! If your high-wage occupation changes after you’ve been issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) the older wage level will be used for your application. In other words, your relevant CRS points will not be affected.
This matters because the higher your occupation’s wage, the more CRS points you get:
| Eligible Canadian work experience | Points |
| At least 12 months in a high-wage occupation (or in more than one) with median wages at least twice the average median wage | 70 |
| At least 12 months combined in one (or more) high-wage occupations with median wages at least 1.5 times the average median wage | 40 |
| At least 12 months combined in one (or more) high-wage occupations with median wages at least 1.3 times the average median wage | 20 |
| Less than 12 months of qualifying experience in high-wage occupations | 0 |
Because Express Entry’s online system has not yet been updated to reflect the change in policy on LMIAs, you need to do the following, starting on November 3, 2026:
In your Express Entry profile, select the option stating that you have a positive LMIA even if you don’t have one. In the “Work History” section fill in the fields as follows:
| Question or field | Response |
| Was a positive LMIA issued for the job offer in Canada? | Yes |
| LMIA Number | 00000 |
| LMIA Issuance Date | 2026-01-01 |
| LMIA Expiry Date | 2029-01-01 |
Now let’s see if your occupation is a high-wage one, and which high-wage category it falls under. Look through these lists of High-Wage Occupations in the tables below. They will come into effect on November 3, 2026:
NOC occupations with median wages at least twice the national average
| NOC code | NOC description |
| 00011 | Senior government managers and officials |
| 00012 | Senior managers – financial, communications and other business services |
| 00013 | Senior managers – health, education, social and community services and membership organizations |
| 10010 | Financial managers |
| 10011 | Human resources managers |
| 10012 | Purchasing managers |
| 10020 | Insurance, real estate and financial brokerage managers |
| 10021 | Banking, credit and other investment managers |
| 20010 | Engineering managers |
| 20011 | Architecture and science managers |
| 20012 | Computer and information systems managers |
| 21330 | Mining engineers |
| 21332 | Petroleum engineers |
| 31100 | Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine |
| 31101 | Specialists in surgery |
| 31102 | General practitioners and family physicians |
| 31103 | Veterinarians |
| 31302 | Nurse practitioners |
| 31303 | Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals |
| 40010 | Government managers – health and social policy development and program administration |
| 40011 | Government managers – economic analysis, policy development and program administration |
| 40012 | Government managers – education policy development and program administration |
| 40019 | Other managers in public administration |
| 40040 | Commissioned police officers and related occupations in public protection services |
| 40041 | Fire chiefs and senior firefighting officers |
| 41100 | Judges |
| 41101 | Lawyers and Quebec notaries |
| 41200 | University professors and lecturers |
| 60010 | Corporate sales managers |
| 80010 | Managers in natural resources production and fishing |
| 90011 | Utilities managers |
NOC occupations with median wages at least 1.5 times and less than twice the national average
| NOC code | NOC description |
| 00014 | Senior managers – trade, broadcasting and other services |
| 00015 | Senior managers – construction, transportation, production and utilities |
| 10019 | Other administrative services managers |
| 10022 | Advertising, marketing and public relations managers |
| 10029 | Other business services managers |
| 10030 | Telecommunication carriers managers |
| 11103 | Securities agents, investment dealers and brokers |
| 11201 | Professional occupations in business management consulting |
| 21100 | Physicists and astronomers |
| 21102 | Geoscientists and oceanographers |
| 21103 | Meteorologists and climatologists |
| 21109 | Other professional occupations in physical sciences |
| 21111 | Forestry professionals |
| 21120 | Public and environmental health and safety professionals |
| 21202 | Urban and land use planners |
| 21210 | Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries |
| 21211 | Data scientists |
| 21220 | Cybersecurity specialists |
| 21221 | Business systems specialists |
| 21222 | Information systems specialists |
| 21223 | Database analysts and data administrators |
| 21230 | Computer systems developers and programmers |
| 21231 | Software engineers and designers |
| 21232 | Software developers and programmers |
| 21300 | Civil engineers |
| 21301 | Mechanical engineers |
| 21310 | Electrical and electronics engineers |
| 21311 | Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) |
| 21320 | Chemical engineers |
| 21321 | Industrial and manufacturing engineers |
| 21322 | Metallurgical and materials engineers |
| 21331 | Geological engineers |
| 21390 | Aerospace engineers |
| 21399 | Other professional engineers |
| 22231 | Engineering inspectors and regulatory officers |
| 22312 | Industrial instrument technicians and mechanics |
| 30010 | Managers in health care |
| 31110 | Dentists |
| 31112 | Audiologists and speech-language pathologists |
| 31120 | Pharmacists |
| 31200 | Psychologists |
| 31202 | Physiotherapists |
| 31203 | Occupational therapists |
| 31300 | Nursing coordinators and supervisors |
| 31301 | Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses |
| 32111 | Dental hygienists and dental therapists |
| 40020 | Administrators – post-secondary education and vocational training |
| 40021 | School principals and administrators of elementary and secondary education |
| 40030 | Managers in social, community and correctional services |
| 40042 | Commissioned officers of the Canadian Armed Forces |
| 41210 | College and other vocational instructors |
| 41220 | Secondary school teachers |
| 41221 | Elementary school and kindergarten teachers |
| 41310 | Police investigators and other investigative occupations |
| 41311 | Probation and parole officers |
| 41320 | Educational counsellors |
| 41401 | Economists and economic policy researchers and analysts |
| 41402 | Business development officers and market researchers and analysts |
| 41404 | Health policy researchers, consultants and program officers |
| 41407 | Program officers unique to government |
| 42100 | Police officers (except commissioned) |
| 42101 | Firefighters |
| 50010 | Library, archive, museum and art gallery managers |
| 50011 | Managers – publishing, motion pictures, broadcasting and performing arts |
| 51100 | Librarians |
| 70010 | Construction managers |
| 70012 | Facility operation and maintenance managers |
| 70020 | Managers in transportation |
| 70021 | Postal and courier services managers |
| 72011 | Contractors and supervisors, electrical trades and telecommunications occupations |
| 72012 | Contractors and supervisors, pipefitting trades |
| 72023 | Supervisors, railway transport operations |
| 72103 | Boilermakers |
| 72202 | Power system electricians |
| 72203 | Electrical power line and cable workers |
| 72301 | Steamfitters, pipefitters and sprinkler system installers |
| 72406 | Elevator constructors and mechanics |
| 72600 | Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors |
| 72601 | Air traffic controllers and related occupations |
| 72604 | Railway traffic controllers and marine traffic regulators |
| 73310 | Railway and yard locomotive engineers |
| 82020 | Supervisors, mining and quarrying |
| 82021 | Contractors and supervisors, oil and gas drilling and services |
| 83101 | Oil and gas well drillers, servicers, testers and related workers |
| 90010 | Manufacturing managers |
| 92011 | Supervisors, petroleum, gas and chemical processing and utilities |
| 92100 | Power engineers and power systems operators |
| 93100 | Central control and process operators, mineral and metal processing |
| 93101 | Central control and process operators, petroleum, gas and chemical processing |
NOC occupations with median wages at least 1.3 times but less than 1.5 times the national average
| NOC code | NOC description |
| 00010 | Legislators |
| 11100 | Financial auditors and accountants |
| 11101 | Financial and investment analysts |
| 11102 | Financial advisors |
| 11109 | Other financial officers |
| 11200 | Human resources professionals |
| 12201 | Insurance adjusters and claims examiners |
| 12203 | Assessors, business valuators and appraisers |
| 21101 | Chemists |
| 21110 | Biologists and related scientists |
| 21112 | Agricultural representatives, consultants and specialists |
| 21200 | Architects |
| 21201 | Landscape architects |
| 21203 | Land surveyors |
| 21234 | Web developers and programmers |
| 22214 | Technical occupations in geomatics and meteorology |
| 22232 | Occupational health and safety specialists |
| 22233 | Construction inspectors |
| 22310 | Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians |
| 22313 | Aircraft instrument, electrical and avionics mechanics, technicians and inspectors |
| 31121 | Dietitians and nutritionists |
| 32102 | Paramedical occupations |
| 32103 | Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists |
| 32120 | Medical laboratory technologists |
| 32121 | Medical radiation technologists |
| 32122 | Medical sonographers |
| 41300 | Social workers |
| 41400 | Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers |
| 41403 | Social policy researchers, consultants and program officers |
| 41405 | Education policy researchers, consultants and program officers |
| 41409 | Other professional occupations in social science |
| 43201 | Correctional service officers |
| 43203 | Border services, customs, and immigration officers |
| 50012 | Recreation, sports and fitness program and service directors |
| 51101 | Conservators and curators |
| 51102 | Archivists |
| 51111 | Authors and writers (except technical) |
| 51112 | Technical writers |
| 51120 | Producers, directors, choreographers and related occupations |
| 52112 | Broadcast technicians |
| 60020 | Retail and wholesale trade managers |
| 60031 | Accommodation service managers |
| 60040 | Managers in customer and personal services |
| 72010 | Contractors and supervisors, machining, metal forming, shaping and erecting trades and related occupations |
| 72013 | Contractors and supervisors, carpentry trades |
| 72014 | Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers |
| 72020 | Contractors and supervisors, mechanic trades |
| 72021 | Contractors and supervisors, heavy equipment operator crews |
| 72102 | Sheet metal workers |
| 72105 | Ironworkers |
| 72201 | Industrial electricians |
| 72302 | Gas fitters |
| 72320 | Bricklayers |
| 72321 | Insulators |
| 72401 | Heavy-duty equipment mechanics |
| 72403 | Railway carmen/women |
| 72404 | Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors |
| 72500 | Crane operators |
| 72602 | Deck officers, water transport |
| 72603 | Engineer officers, water transport |
| 73311 | Railway conductors and brakemen/women |
| 82010 | Supervisors, logging and forestry |
| 83100 | Underground production and development miners |
| 83120 | Fishing masters and officers |
| 92010 | Supervisors, mineral and metal processing |
| 93102 | Pulping, papermaking and coating control operators |
That’s all for now. There may be more details on these changes in the near future, so please check back in to see what they are!
Posted in News and tagged Express Entry
