The BIGGEST Misunderstanding of the NEW Express Entry

I know you must have watched at least one video about the new changes to the Canada Express Entry. There are tons of videos on it, so I'm not going to repeat the rules back to you. Instead, I'm going to tell you the hidden truth about what these changes mean for you, whether you're already in Canada holding a job offer, or maybe not, or maybe you're still abroad. And I'm going to tell you the exact steps to take before November 3rd, so that one wrong assumption doesn't cost you years. So sit tight while we spill the tea. Finally, the new Canada Express Entry is here. And generally, in case you didn't know, starting November 3rd, Canada is changing how it gives you points in Express Entry. And that includes how a job offer counts. When that day comes, the system will go back through every profile that's already in the pool and recalculate their scores. And that can take up to two weeks. And while that's happening, there won't be any invitation rounds. But once they have finished, the invitation rounds will start again. Is that clear? Good. Now, it's a little technical, so let's just give you an example. Even though the new rules stipulate that you can now get extra points for high-wage occupations, did you know that you can earn a six-figure salary in Canada and get zero extra points for it under the new Express Entry Rules, zero? And in the next two minutes, I'm going to show you exactly why that happens. And to do this, I need you to picture two people. The first one has been working in Canada for two years. He has a good job with a big salary. Let's say he earns $110,000 every year. Now, the second person earns a lot less, maybe just $95,000. But the work that they do happens to sit in the occupation that Canada has decided to reward. Under the new Express Entry rules, that second person can pick up as much as 70 extra points. And the first person with a bigger salary possibly becomes zero points for that criteria. I know, it feels wrong. And that is the first biggest misunderstanding about this new Express Entry. Now, let's talk about exactly how it works and what to do about it. Let me backtrack a bit, just in case you are confused. The Express Entry ranks people with a point system called the CRS. However, from November 3rd, there's a new piece inside it called the Labor Market Integration Factor. In simple terms, Canada will give you points for one of two things. Your Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation. The system will look at each of them and it will give you points for whichever one is highest. The maximum for this whole factor is 150 points if you don't have a spouse or a partner coming with you. And it's 140 if you do. The first misunderstanding is that people see 150 and they think Canada is handing out 150 brand new points. But that's not what's happening. Inside that 150, there's a big piece, which is up to 80 points or 70 points with a spouse. That is simply your Canadian work experience points, the same ones that exist already. So if you've worked in Canada for like five years or more, you already got those points. But two things are new. There's a high wage bonus on top of your work experience, which is 20, 40, or 70 points depending. And there's job offer points, which are coming back at 50, 70, or 100 points. So the new piece there is the high wage part. And the high wage part is where there's some confusion. I mean, you hear high wage occupation. If you're a normal person, you think, okay, I earn a high wage, so I'm qualified. But sadly, that's not how it works. A job counts as high wage when the median wage of everybody in Canada doing that kind of work is at least 1.3 times the average median wage of the whole Canadian workforce. And IRCC is clear that this is measured across everybody under the same occupation code. That's not code. It is not based on your specific job position. So in other words, Canada doesn't just check your paycheck. It checks what people in your type of job earn across the whole country. If that's at least 1.3 times higher than typical pay in Canada, your job counts as high wage. If not, it doesn't count. So your paycheck doesn't go into the formula, but your occupation does. There are three levels to this. At 1.3 times the average, you're in the lowest level, which is 20 points for work experience, 50 points for a job offer. At 1.5 times, you're at 40 and 70 points respectively. And at twice the average, you're at 70 and 100 points respectively. To get the work experience bonus, you need at least 12 months of 1,560 hours of qualifying Canadian work in those occupations. It doesn't have to be continuous. Part-time hours also add up. You can combine more than one eligible job. and if you worked two jobs at the same time the hours count up to full time which is 30 hours a week now let's go back to our two people in the example previously someone earning great money in an occupation that isn't on the list gets the bonus someone earning less in an occupation that is on the list can get up to 70 points extra there's one more thing that people are missing the skills transferability part of your score is not changing and it won't use the high wage rules. So that part stays as it is today. I love talking about the Canadian dream and if you don't mind hearing from me every now and then, please sign up to my newsletter. It's never ever boring. Link is in the description. Now I'm going to give you homework. Step one, go and find your own NOC. Step two, when you find your NOC, open IRCC's high wage occupation list and look for that NOC. I'll put that list up here too and it will be in the description. IRCC says that the list is built on wage data from 2023 to 2025. So make sure you keep an eye on it. Step three, find your NOC on that list. Count your qualifying months to see if you qualify. And mind you, officers look at your duties and a wrong NOC code can cost you more than 70 points. So please never ever choose a NOC code that isn't actually your true NOC code. Now there's one more thing. There's a certain phrase that I've heard a lot since this announcement was made. Is this fair? I mean, take two people with the same degree, the same English score, similar years of work experience one of them is already in Canada, already working in an occupation on this list and the other person is in Lagos or Accra or Nairobi with the same qualifications but no Canadian work experience or even the example that we used at the beginning when it comes to this, there are two arguments to this. The first one says that IRCC says the goal is to attract and keep skilled talent and to support economic growth and there's a real argument there: someone already working in Canada has shown that their skills work in this economy, they have found a job, they have adapted, paying taxes and that's the word integration, but a second set of people argue that this whole new rule turns access into the dividing line because honestly getting that first Canadian job in the right occupation isn't equally easy for everyone. The people who may need a fair shot the most, who are like international graduates, people on temporary permits, not even people that are still abroad, could find that job harder to get. And both sides of this argument have a point. But here's something that I found very, very interesting. IRCC ran a consultation on this and about 17,500 people filled in the survey. When they asked about extra points for high wage Canadian work experience, only 42.3% supported the idea and 45.8 percent opposed it, imagine however even with that contradiction that survey doesn't represent everybody so i'm not saying that it proves that the policy is wrong but it tells me that even the people closest to this were split right down the middle they didn't agree so tell me what you think in the comments is rewarding just the people who are already inside the canadian job market on selected high-wage jobs smart fair or unfair and tell me whether you're writing from canada or from outside canada now there's something else that is very worrying to me a job can be badly needed in canada as in a priority job and still not be a high-wage job because just think about some of the jobs that quietly keeps the country running are they high wage jobs? Your guess is as good as mine. IRCC's own consultation report recorded worries that selecting on wages could make some sectors less competitive even when they are short of workers. So what happens when Canada needs you but doesn't reward you? And if that's you, you definitely need a plan B and even a plan C. Now there's a second big misunderstanding that we need to talk about. From November 3rd, a job offer doesn't need an LMIA to count for express entry points or for program eligibility. And that rings a lot of bells for so many people. Because what you hear is, ha, so any employer can give me an offer and I get extra points. However, listen carefully, my friend, because there are people that are ready to sell you exactly that idea. The LMIA requirement is going away. That one is true. But a real job is not going away. The job offer that you have still has to be valid under the express entry. Even without an LMIA, an officer will still decide whether your job offer is genuine or not. And they look at whether the employer is really active in that business, whether they can actually deliver what the offer says. They also look at whether it matches a real need and whether they are following employment and recruitment laws. And they look at you too. Are you qualified and are you likely to take the job and be able to do it. The offer can be for an existing position or for a new one with an existing employer or a new employer. And remember, job offer points and work experience points do not stack on top of each other. You get the higher of the two. Now there's one more detail that I think I should mention. For the federal skilled worker and skilled trades programs, a job offer can help you meet program eligibility even when the job isn't on the high wage list. But in that case, it may give you no CRS points at all. Eligibility and points are judged separately. So the moral of this story is that if anyone tells you pay me and I'll get you a job offer for PR, please walk away because if it goes wrong, the consequences land on your own application, not on the person who sold it to you. One practical thing that I want you to note is that IRCC says its online profile hasn't been updated to match the new rules yet. So for a job offer without an LMIA, the form will still ask you for LMIA details and IRCC has published exactly what to enter as a temporary workaround. Please go to IRCC's page and follow it word for word. The guidance I read also says that you need to make sure that your job offer details are in your profile before November 3rd. From what I know, these are the three situations of people that are watching this video right now. Number one, you're already in Canada with work experience. If you're in the express entry pool, your score gets recalculated automatically. So there's nothing for you to do, but you do need to know three things. Is your occupation on the list? Which level is it? And do you have the 12 months or 1,560 hours of experience? The second group of people is that you have, or you're about to get a qualifying job offer. Please check the occupation, check the level and ask yourself honestly whether that job offer will survive an officer's questions and an officer's scrutiny it's worth 50 70 or 100 points and if you already have a lot of eligible canadian work experience compare the two because you only get the higher number and the work experience route can go all the way up to 150 points the third set of people outside canada with neither a job offer nor a high wage occupation and i know it hurts because somehow this doesn't benefit you it feels now like a new door opened and you are standing outside but just stay hopeful because your time will still come if you can get a job offer from outside canada in these high wage occupations you still get to have those points in the express entry if you are still like oh i can't get it shay can you explain it to me one-on-one i sure can just book a one-on-one session with me the booking link is right here and it's also in the description now please don't run away without hearing this important thing that i want to say contrary to what we all think more points do not guarantee an invitation ircc says that on its website directly your score for eligibility for a program and being picked in a particular invitation round are three different things many people spend years chasing 20 more points when the real question is whether their profile fits what Canada is actually inviting or not it's not only about how much you earn it's also about how Canada sees your job and your occupation so go and find out where your own occupation sits and for a full breakdown of not just the Canada Express Entry but other pathways that you can get your permanent residence just watch this video up here i hope that you now have a full understanding of what the new Canada Express Entry is and how you can benefit from it if you have questions leave them in the comments and i'll get to them very soon my name is Sheryl Bassey and this is the Canadian Dream