The biggest proposed rewrite of Express Entry since 2015 is sitting in a public comment window — and the window closes on May 24, 2026. That gives you 15 days from today to actually tell IRCC what you think of the changes that could reshape your CRS score, your eligibility, and the value of a job offer in Canada.
Almost no applicant we talk to knows the consultation exists. That's a problem, because once it closes, IRCC moves to internal drafting and the next public comment window is 12+ months away — after the proposed regulations land in the Canada Gazette.
What's actually being decided
IRCC opened the 2026 consultation on potential Express Entry reforms on April 23. The survey covers four concrete proposals, each of which moves CRS points around in a way that will help some candidates and hurt others.
Proposal 1 — Collapse three programs into one. The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) would be retired and replaced with a single program. Minimum eligibility would standardize at: a Canadian high school credential or foreign equivalent, CLB/NCLC 6 across all four language skills, and one year of TEER 0–3 work experience in Canada or abroad in the past three years.
Proposal 2 — Recalibrate CRS by predictive strength. IRCC has openly published which factors it considers strong, moderate, and weak predictors of newcomer earnings. Strong: language skills and high earnings as a temporary resident in Canada. Moderate: Canadian work experience, a Canadian job offer, university-level education, younger age. Weak: spousal points, sibling-in-Canada points, French bonus points, and Canadian-education points. The "weak" group is the one to watch — those points may be reduced or removed.
Proposal 3 — Add a high-wage occupation factor. New CRS points would go to candidates with Canadian work experience or a job offer in a "high-wage occupation" — an occupation whose median wage is above the median for all Canadians (roughly $29/hour in 2026). Same occupation, same points — your individual pay doesn't matter, only the published Job Bank wage for your NOC.
Proposal 4 — Bring back job offer points (with conditions). Job offer points were removed in March 2025 to combat LMIA fraud. They'd return under this proposal — but only for high-wage occupations, on the theory that those jobs have credentialing requirements that make fraud harder.
For the deeper read on each proposal, our existing breakdown of the Express Entry overhaul walks through what's known and what's still vague.
Who can submit feedback
Almost everyone. The survey is open to:
- Anyone in the Express Entry pool right now — the people most directly affected.
- Candidates outside Canada considering Express Entry. You don't need to be in the pool, in Canada, or have any prior knowledge of the system.
- Organizations — employers, settlement agencies, immigration lawyers, RCICs, education providers — submitting one consolidated response.
- Members of the public with no immigration interest at all.
That last category matters. Without applicant voices in the response pool, the consultation defaults to industry stakeholders (lawyers, big employers, recruiters) whose interests don't always line up with yours.
How to actually do it
The official survey lives on the canada.ca consultation portal. The link is on the 2026 consultations page. Plan for 15–25 minutes to complete it thoughtfully. You don't need a GCKey or any login — it's an open survey form.
If you'd rather email a position rather than answer the structured questions, the engagement team accepts written submissions at IRCC.Engagement-Engagement.IRCC@cic.gc.ca. Use the same May 24 deadline.
What to focus your feedback on
If you only have 10 minutes and want to make those minutes count, the four highest-leverage questions to answer are:
1. The PNP 600-point bonus. The proposal doesn't explicitly retire the 600 points a Provincial Nominee gets, but the entire "predictors of economic success" framing puts it in question. If PNP nominees lose their guaranteed ITA, the whole PNP-via-Express-Entry strategy collapses for hundreds of thousands of candidates. Provinces are expected to push back, but applicant voices count.
2. The French bonus. IRCC's "weak predictor" list includes French bonus points. French-language draws have been the lowest-cutoff route into PR all year — the April 29 French draw closed at CRS 400, more than 100 points below CEC. If the bonus disappears, the French strategy we recommend to candidates in the 400–500 band stops working.
3. The high-wage NOC list. "High-wage" sounds neutral, but the published Job Bank wage rates exclude tip income, bonuses, and many regional adjustments. Cooks, food service supervisors, retail managers, and personal support workers all earn real money but read as low-wage on Job Bank. If you're in one of those occupations, this is the moment to write that into the record.
4. Spousal points. Currently a married applicant can earn up to 40 points from a spouse's education, language, and Canadian work experience. The "weak predictor" classification puts those points at risk, which would hit dual-applicant couples hardest.
What this means for you right now
If you're in the pool today: Nothing changes operationally. Draws are still running on the current CRS formula. Submit feedback to shape what comes next, but don't pause your application strategy waiting for the new rules. The full overhaul is a 12–18 month process; the high-wage CRS factor could land via Ministerial Instructions sooner — possibly Q4 2026 — but the rest stays put through 2027.
If you're a French speaker: The French-bonus question is a direct vote on whether the most viable lower-CRS pathway stays open. Show up for it.
If you're a PNP applicant: The 600-point question is your fight. A nomination is currently the single largest CRS line item in the system; even softening the rule would change the math on whether to pursue a province at all.
If your job pays above $29/hour: You're a structural winner of the high-wage proposal. Your feedback helps lock in the design that benefits you.
If your job pays below the median: You're a structural loser of the high-wage proposal. Filing feedback that argues for occupation-list inclusion (rather than wage-cutoff) is your way to flag the gap.
The single most-read section of any consultation submission is the free-text comment box at the end. Bullet-point answers in the structured questions get aggregated into statistics; the comment box is where IRCC analysts pull direct quotes for the policy memo. If you have one strong point — write it there in plain English, in two or three sentences. "I'm a registered nurse in a rural community and the high-wage cutoff would exclude my entire occupation despite acute shortages" lands harder than a 1-out-of-5 score on a Likert scale.
What happens after May 24
IRCC consolidates the responses, drafts options, and runs them through internal policy review. The CRS-only pieces (high-wage factor, weight changes) can move via Ministerial Instructions — no Canada Gazette, possible activation in Q4 2026. The program merger (retiring FSWP/CEC/FSTP) requires the full regulatory amendment process: proposed regulations in the Canada Gazette Part I in late 2026, final in 2027, operational in 2027–2028.
Your only direct shot at influencing the design is right now, before May 24.
Related reading
Express Entry Overhaul Explained | CRS Changes Coming via Ministerial Instructions | Express Entry Categories 2026 | CRS Calculator | Latest Draws