Express Entry vs. Ontario vs. BC: Comparing Points Systems for Immigration

If you spend time digging into each of these immigration pathways, you’ll discover that each of them has its own points system for selecting applicants. Express Entry has the well-known Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), Ontario uses a points grid for the new Ontario Workforce Priorities stream, and the BC PNP’s Skills Immigration pathway assigns points through the Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS).

Three different immigration pathways with three different points systems.

Express Entry is scored out of 1,200 points, British Columbia’s system totals 200 points, and Ontario’s new grid totals 130 points. Comparing the raw totals, however, won’t tell you very much, because each system was built for a different purpose.

Many of our readers want to know which immigration pathway is best for them. Or, to put it more bluntly, “Which immigration pathway gives me the best chance of success?”

In this article, we compare the points systems between these three popular pathways—Express Entry, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), and BC PNP—and we help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of each.

To start off, it’s important to understand how the objectives for each of these pathways differ.

Three Different Systems, Three Different Objectives

All three pathways—Express Entry, OINP, and the BC PNP—result in the same thing: Canadian permanent resident status (PR). Permanent residents gain the legal right to live and work anywhere in Canada and move around as they wish.

Express Entry: Federal Priorities

Express Entry is a federal system. It’s not tied to a specific province (although it doesn’t operate in Quebec) and it has to balance federal and provincial immigration needs. This federal context shapes the way the CRS scoring system works.

The CRS score places a lot of weight on factors that are valuable regardless of where someone eventually settles. The CRS system calls these “Human Capital” factors, and they include things like age, education, language ability and work experience.

Here’s a broad overview of Express Entry’s CRS scoring system:

Express Entry prioritizes candidates who are younger (they’ll contribute to the economy longer), with high levels of education and language proficiency (to integrate into the workforce), and with Canadian work experience (a demonstrated history of employability in Canada).

PNPs: Regional Priorities

Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs)—including Ontario and BC—have a different challenge. Provinces nominate immigrants to help fill specific provincial economic needs. Often this means selecting newcomers who have work experience and job offers in in-demand occupations or less populous regions of the province.

As a result, provincial points systems often reward candidates who have demonstrated connections to local labour markets.

Here’s an overview of the BC PNP’s Skills Immigration Registration System:

And—here’s an overview of the new OINP Workforce Priorities Stream points grid:

With the recent unveiling of the new OINP’s Ontario Workforce Priorities stream, we see the majority of points being granted for employment and labour market factors. This could suggest a possible direction for the future of immigration selection: systems designed more strongly towards local labour markets.

Let’s compare.

How The Three Points Systems Compare

The number of points available differs dramatically between these systems. But—we can get a better sense of comparison if we break things down by percentage for different types of factors.

Here’s a rough breakdown of the weight each system gives to different categories. Please note that the categories aren’t perfectly defined and there is some overlap, so these percentages are approximate.

Express Entry shows a stark contrast to the others, in that it’s built primarily around human capital, especially if you exclude the points available for provincial nominations (which most Express Entry candidates do not receive). Although, Express Entry does consider Canadian work experience under human capital factors, whereas Ontario categorizes this as a labour market factor.

Meanwhile, British Columbia balances human capital factors with labour market needs.

Finally, with its recent update, Ontario now places more than half of all available points on employment and labour market factors.

Let’s dive deeper into a comparison of which factors each system rewards.

What Does Each System Value?

Some factors appear across all three systems, including education, language ability and work experience, while others are unique to one system. For example, Express Entry awards points for age, while the other two don’t. Meanwhile, Ontario’s new Workforce Priority stream gives considerable weight to a candidate’s wages and Canadian earnings history, which aren’t considered in Express Entry.

Looking at each factor side by side makes it easier to see what federal and provincial governments are trying to accomplish.

Age

Age is a factor that immediately distinguishes the three systems:

Express Entry is the only one of the three systems that rewards age.

Applicants between 20 and 29 years old receive the highest scores because younger immigrants generally have longer working lives ahead of them. From the federal government’s perspective, age is one indicator of long-term economic potential.

Neither British Columbia nor Ontario awards any points for age. Provincial nominee programs are generally less concerned with how old someone is than whether they already have the skills and connection to the province’s jobs market.

Education

Education appears in all three systems, but each program measures it a little differently.

All three systems reward higher levels of education, but at different weights. For both Express Entry and the BC PNP, a Master’s Degree can gain a candidate 11 percent of all points, while it’s only 6 percent for Ontario. Beyond this, they don’t all value the same things beyond the degree itself.

Express Entry places the greatest emphasis on educational credentials, while British Columbia also rewards education completed within BC. Ontario offers proportionally fewer points for education, although it does reward Canadian education credentials (with no extra points for education completed in Ontario itself).

Language Ability

Language proficiency is highly valued across all three points systems, likely because it’s such an important skill for working in Canada. In fact, for the first official language proficiency, all three systems award 11–15 percent of all points. However, Express Entry gives the most weight to second language, especially for candidates who speak French.

In Express Entry’s CRS, candidates can receive extra points for language through skill transferability factors, plus bonus points for French proficiency. As well, French speakers can also qualify for French-language draws, enabling them to be invited with lower CRS scores than non-French-speaking candidates.

Work Experience

Points for work experience showcase even broader differences between the pathways:

Express Entry candidates can get points for both Canadian and foreign work experience. This work experience can be in any skilled occupation.

British Columbia will award points for foreign work experience, but only if it’s in the same occupation as the job offer tied to their PNP application. BC also offers additional points if the candidate is currently employed in BC in the job offer position.

Ontario is even more restrictive with work experience points, offering no points for foreign work experience. Candidates may receive points if they’re current employed in the job offer position tied to the PNP application, or if they have previous Ontario work experience.

Notably, Ontario is also the only system to award points to candidates based on their earnings history in Canada. If a candidate has earned $70,000+ annually (based on recent filings), they can earn an additional 8 points. This is yet another demonstration of Ontario’s commitment to Canadian employability.

Job Offers

Perhaps the biggest difference between the federal and provincial systems is the role of job offer points:

While Express Entry doesn’t award any points for job offers (in 2026), both Ontario and BC allocate approximately 25 percent of their total points to job offer-related factors. For Ontario, this includes factors relating to occupation and hourly wage, while BC allocates all job-offer-related points to the hourly wage of the position.

Of course, BC already filters many applicants out based on occupation, as many occupations are ineligible to apply for BC Skills Immigration. Ontario’s Workforce Priorities stream allows all occupations to submit EOIs, but certain occupations are prioritized based on points awarded for job offer factors.

Notably, Express Entry used to award points for job offers – and it may again soon!

Until 2025, Express Entry awarded additional CRS points for qualifying job offers. The federal government removed those points following concerns about abuse and the buying and selling of Labour Market Impact Assessments. Under a proposed set of reforms, Express Entry may reintroduce job offer points in the near future – offering additional points for job offers and occupations with high wages.

Regionalization

Both provincial systems also encourage immigration outside their largest cities.

British Columbia awards additional points for employment outside Metro Vancouver, while Ontario gives its highest regionality points for Northern Ontario. Neither BC nor Ontario offer any points to candidates with job offers in the major cities of Toronto and Vancouver.

Express Entry does not offer any regionality bonus.

What Does This Tell Us?

Looking across these comparisons, a clear pattern begins to emerge.

Express Entry rewards qualities that are applicable across Canada. It gives more weight to age, education, language ability and work experience because these characteristics are associated with long-term economic contributions regardless of where someone eventually settles.

British Columbia still balances human capital with employment factors, but Ontario’s new Workforce Priority stream goes much further. More than half of all available points relate directly to employment and labour market factors. Applicants receive separate scores for their occupation, wages, Ontario work experience, Canadian earnings history and legal status in Canada.

Taken together, Ontario’s system suggests that the PNP is aiming to prioritize proof of potential to contribute long-term to Ontario’s economy, especially in sectors and regions that have more demand.

If you’re trying to plan your immigration journey, you should recognize that, more and more, immigration points systems are rewarding candidates with Canadian work experience and job offers in Canada tied to labour market needs. If you have the opportunity to secure a work permit and gain work experience in Ontario, BC, or one of Canada’s other provinces or territories, this can give you an advantage in PNP selection.

That being said, Express Entry remains an option for highly qualified skilled workers anywhere in the world. However, Express Entry has become more and more competitive in recent years. The system has not conducted a single “general draw” in 2026, instead prioritizing candidates with Canadian experience, French-language proficiency, and experience in occupations targeted by category-based draws.

If you’d like help building your Canadian immigration plan, we recommend book a consultation with our in-house Canadian immigration consultant, Rebecca. She can assess your profile and help design a strategy to maximize your chances of success. Learn more and book a consultation here.