How to Update Your Express Entry Profile With a Job Offer Before the November 3 CRS Changes

Before the new CRS rules take effect on November 3, Express Entry applicants with a job offer need to enter the details in the work history section — including LMIA, employer address, and work permit type — to avoid losing extra points in the first draw after the update.

In short

• A job offer must be in an occupation paying at least 2x, 1.5x, or 1.3x the median wage, and be full-time, continuous, and non-seasonal.
• Points are awarded either for a job offer or for Canadian work experience — not both at the same time.
• The profile needs to be updated before the recalculation begins: points for a job offer not entered in advance won’t be counted.
• A job offer earns 50, 70, or 100 extra points — the exact amount depends on the offer’s parameters.
• After November 3 and after the profile is transmitted, the CRS recalculation takes up to two weeks rather than happening instantly.

What’s changing in CRS on November 3 and how job offers fit in

After November 3, all Express Entry draws will run on the new CRS system instead of the old scoring scale. The new system adds points for a labour market integration factor — a scoring block that didn’t exist before. One element of that block is points for a job offer from a Canadian employer.

To earn points for a job offer, the offer must be in a high-wage occupation from the IRCC list: paying at least 2x, 1.5x, or 1.3x the median wage for that occupation. If a job offer meets these conditions but isn’t entered in the profile before the recalculation begins, the points won’t be counted — the system will already be running on the new factors, and the profile needs to be updated in advance, before the next draw after November 3.

If a job offer meets these conditions but isn’t entered in the profile before the recalculation begins, the points won’t be counted

One important nuance: points are awarded either for a job offer or for Canadian work experience — not both at the same time. So the actual increase in the total score after updating the profile may end up smaller than it first appears.

Who qualifies for job offer points: high-wage occupations

Job offer points are only awarded when there’s an offer from an employer in Canada in an occupation from the high-wage list. The selection criterion is salary relative to the provincial median:

• 2x the median wage — a separate occupation tier;
• 1.5x the median wage — a separate tier;
• 1.3x the median wage — a separate tier.

If the occupation the offer is for doesn’t fall into any of these tiers, no job offer points are awarded — regardless of the fact that employment exists.

Beyond the wage threshold, the offer must also meet two more conditions:

• the job must be full-time and continuous — not part-time and not temporary;
• the job must be non-seasonal — year-round, not tied to a season.

Only when all three conditions are met at once — a high-wage list occupation, full-time continuous employment, and non-seasonal work — does the profile qualify for extra points under the new CRS system.

Job offer vs. Canadian work experience points: you can’t get both

Points are awarded either for Canadian work experience or for a job offer — not both at the same time. This also applies to the 50, 70, or 100 extra points that will appear in the profile after November 3: they’re awarded for a job offer, but not on top of the Canadian experience points — instead of them.

In practice, this means the overall CRS score may increase by less than the size of the new bonus suggests: if an applicant already had points for Canadian work experience, adding a job offer may cause some of those points to be counted with less weight, or the experience points themselves may drop. The increase should be judged not by the face value of the new bonus, but by the final total after recalculation.

The increase should be judged not by the face value of the new bonus, but by the final total after recalculation

Why the IRCC online form doesn’t match the new requirements yet

The Express Entry online form hasn’t been updated yet for the new rules taking effect on November 3, so some fields still work on the old logic. You’ll need to fill out the profile using the current form’s existing logic so that the job offer information still gets into the system correctly.

Because of this, the form may still ask about LMIA data under the old logic, even though as of November 3 a positive LMIA is no longer required either to meet program eligibility or to earn job offer points. Fill in whichever fields the form opens up for you, basing your answers on the actual state of your documents rather than on what used to be required.

Either way, job offer information needs to go into the work history section, where you add the details of the offer.

The work history section: where to enter the job offer in your profile

1. Sign in to your GCKey account and open your active Express Entry profile through the complete application status.
2. Click “View profile” to go to the data editing screen.
3. Open the Work history section — this is where employment and job offer information is entered.
4. Inside that section, find the Intended work in Canada subsection — this is where job offer details go.
5. For the question about having a job offer in a high-wage occupation, answer “Yes”.

How to enter a job offer in your Express Entry profile

• Sign in to your GCKey account and open your active Express Entry profilethrough the complete application status
• Click “View profile”takes you to data editing
• Open the Work history sectionthis is where employment and job offer information goes
• Find the Intended work in Canada subsectionjob offer details go here
• Answer “Yes” to the question about having a job offer in a high-wage occupation
• Enter the employer’s contact address and the physical work location address separatelythe addresses can differ
• Fill in the LMIA and work permit fields according to your actual situationLMIA number, issuance and expiry dates, NOC code
• Review the work history section and the rest of the profile databefore saving
• Save, exit, and come back to answer the security question
• Transmit the profilewithout this step, the changes won’t be recorded

Employer and addresses: which answers aren’t allowed

The form checks the employer against two conditions with separate questions:

• Embassy, consulate, or high commission. If the employer falls into one of these categories, the application becomes ineligible — this question needs to be answered “no”.
• Government of Canada’s ineligible employers list. If the employer is on this list, they don’t meet program requirements — the answer to this question should reflect the actual situation, and answering “yes” here generally means the job offer can’t be counted.

Next, the form separates two different addresses that are easy to mix up:

• Employer’s contact address — the address where the employer is officially registered, such as the head office address.
• Physical work location address — the address where the applicant will actually carry out the job duties.

These addresses can differ: an employer’s head office is often in a different location than the actual work site. Both addresses need to be entered separately, based on the real situation for that specific employer, rather than copying one address into both fields.

LMIA and work permit fields: a step-by-step filling example

1. Was a positive LMIA issued? If a positive LMIA has been issued, answer “yes” — this opens the fields for its details.
2. LMIA number. As a filling example, the form accepts a number made up of five zeros — follow the format shown on your own LMIA.
3. Issuance date and expiry date. In the example, the issuance date is January 1, 2026, and the expiry date is January 1, 2029; enter the real dates from your own document.
4. Does the applicant have a valid work permit for the current job in Canada? Answer “yes” if you hold a permit for your current job.
5. Is this job offer from the employer named on the current work permit? The answer here depends on the permit type: for a closed work permit, which names the employer on the document, answer “yes”; for an open work permit, which doesn’t name an employer, answer “no”.
6. Has the applicant been working full-time for the employer on their current work permit for at least one year? For a closed work permit with at least a year’s tenure with that employer, answer “yes”; otherwise, “no”. For an open work permit, the answer is always “no”, since it isn’t tied to a specific employer.
7. NOC code. For a closed work permit, choose the NOC code tied to the permit. If the work permit is open, scroll to the bottom of the list — there’s a separate “open” option there.
8. Was a positive LMIA issued for the current work permit? For an open work permit, the answer is “no”.

Once all the fields are filled in, review the work history section and the rest of your profile data, save and exit, then make sure to come back to answer the security question and transmit the profile — without this step, the changes won’t be recorded.

without this step, the changes won’t be recorded

Closed vs. open work permit: how to answer in the form

Form field	Closed work permit	Open work permit
Job offer from the employer named on the permit?	Yes, if the name matches	No — no employer is named
At least 1 year of tenure with this employer?	Yes, if the tenure exists	Always “no”
NOC code	Code tied to the permit	“Open” option at the end of the list
Positive LMIA for the current work permit?	Based on the actual document	No

Based on the Express Entry form’s own filling example.

What happens after you update the profile: timing and points

After you transmit your profile, it won’t change right away: the points stay the same until November 3 arrives. Changes to the system show up with a delay of up to two weeks after that date — that’s when the profile recalculates its CRS score to reflect the job offer information you entered.

A job offer earns 50, 70, or 100 extra points — the exact number depends on the parameters of the offer itself.

The profile needs to be updated before IRCC runs its next candidate draw: only information entered in advance counts, so an applicant who doesn’t manage to enter a job offer before a round will miss out on those points in that specific draw.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I don’t manage to update my profile before the draw after November 3

If a job offer isn’t entered in the profile before the next draw begins, the points for it won’t count in that specific draw: only information entered in advance is considered. The profile needs to be updated before IRCC runs the draw, or the applicant will miss out on those points until the following round.

How do I fill in the work permit fields if I don’t have a current work permit in Canada at all

If there’s no valid work permit for the current job, answer “no” to the question about having such a permit — the follow-up questions about permit type, tenure with the employer, and NOC code don’t apply to the applicant’s situation in that case.