Express Entry Points for Job Offer Removed Early for IEC Young Professionals

This change means that those who have recently received a work permit through the IEC Young Professionals program will no longer receive the 50-200 CRS points boost in the Express Entry pool. This could be a significant setback for those workers whose scores would have otherwise fallen in the high 400s range, which would include IEC candidates who had previous work experience in Canada.  

Key Takeaways 

• The IEC regulations changed on December 18, 2024, stripping Young Professionals of the additional CRS points they would have previously received for a valid job offer in Canada.  

• Canada announced last year that it would be removing the additional points for a job offer in Spring of this year, so IEC Young Professionals miss out on these points earlier than many other Express Entry candidates. 

Background To The Changes 

Late last year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it would be removing the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for candidates with a valid job offer for Express Entry. This change was brought in to respond to widespread reports of fraud among candidates with a job offer.  

• We did a deep dive on IRCC removing Express Entry points for a job offer which you can read for more context. 

Why Did IEC Young Professionals Have Their Points Removed Early? 

It’s unclear why IRCC elected to remove points for Young Professionals. This change happened without any announcement on IRCC’s part, instead the Canadian government just quietly changed the regulations in December.  

What Impact Will This Have on IEC Young Professionals Candidates?  

Realistically, this is likely going to impact a small number of Young Professional candidates. However, for those the change does impact, it may have a significant impact on their chances of being accepted through Canada’s Express Entry system before the job offer points are removed for everyone.  

The practical impact is that for IEC Young Professionals who activate their work permit in the future, or who did activate it as of 18 December 2024, will not receive the 50 additional CRS points they previously would have on their Express Entry profile. Some who work in TEER 0 or 00 roles will miss 200 additional points.  

However, this change realistically won’t impact all Young Professionals. At the moment, it’s likely that most candidates with a competitive Express Entry score have Canadian work experience and are possibly on their second IEC permit. For those activating for the first time, it’s less likely that you would qualify for Express Entry programs that are currently receiving invitations (CEC and PNP).  

Next Steps For Those This Change Impacts  

If you are one of the unlucky ones this change impacts, it’s likely that it will have a large impact on your strategy for securing an Express Entry invitation – especially while others in the pool still have access to those valuable points for a job offer. Here’s what you might consider:  

1. Waiting until the points are removed for everyone and the playing field is levelled. Since you recently activated your Young Professionals work permit and the changes to the points for job offers is planned for Spring 2025, it’s likely that you have some time on your side.  
2. Working on improving your other ranking factors, such as increasing your English or French language results, or learning French or English as an additional language.  
3. Applying for a Provincial Nomination, though bear in mind that this is likely to be competitive this year.