Express Entry’s New Hybrid Era: When Categories Meet CEC

In other words, this isn’t only “we need more doctors.” It’s “we need more doctors who are already in Canada, already gaining Canadian experience, and can transition into PR quickly.” And if IRCC keeps going in this direction, categories won’t just be a tool for picking occupations Canada needs in the abstract. They’ll become a tool for picking occupations Canada needs from people already working here, people who can be retained, transitioned, and integrated as permanent residents faster.

That would shift category draws away from being global talent searches and toward functioning as an in-Canada pathway: a more direct bridge between temporary status and permanent residence for the occupations most in demand.

Why Merge Category and CEC Now?

Because IRCC is trying to make Express Entry do two jobs at once, and categories and CEC, on their own, haven’t been able to deliver the mix of targeting that is needed to effectively address critical labour shortages.

For the last couple of years, the government has been saying (pretty plainly) that it wants more permanent residents selected from people who are already in Canada on temporary status. That’s been a consistent theme in ministerial remarks connected to the Immigration Levels Plan: We need to move people from temporary to permanent in a way that’s faster and more predictable. If that’s the direction, it makes sense that categories start leaning on CEC-style eligibility. You don’t get a reliable in-Canada transition unless your draw rules are built to deliver it.

At the same time, category-based selection was introduced to target sector shortages, healthcare, trades, STEM, transport, agriculture, French. That targeting worked, but it came with a limit: categories still draw from a huge global pool. So even when IRCC may have picked the right occupation, it didn’t always pick candidates who could land quickly, license quickly, or start working quickly. Layering Canadian experience into categories tightens the pool to people who are already attached to Canada’s labour market, and who can convert to PR with less friction.

Healthcare is the clearest place to start because the downside of purely out-of-Canada recruitment is so obvious. Doctors are a high-urgency shortage, but selecting them overseas can mean years of delay before they’re licensed, positioned, and actually practising in Canada. Prioritising doctors with recent Canadian work experience is the fastest way to turn invitations into available physicians, by retaining those who are already here and providing care.

And it points to the bigger shift underneath all of this: keeping proven workers in Canada by moving the people already doing high-need jobs into PR, instead of trying to replace them with candidates outside Canada who don’t yet have a Canadian work record.

How CEC Layering Changes What Categories Do

If you look back at 2024, the outland share of category invitations gives a good sense of how each category was functioning in practice, even though the mix can shift year to year.

The takeaway is what matters: in 2024 at least, categories were used as a global recruitment tool. If IRCC keeps moving toward CEC-layered categories like the new doctors stream, the first real shift is that a big portion of those overseas ITAs gets redirected to people already working in Canada in sectors covered by category draws.

That creates two knock-on effects:

Fewer category pathways from outside Canada: For outland candidates, category draws offer the most realistic and viable PR pathway. If those categories are pulled into an in-Canada transition model, overseas candidates lose this option, therefore reducing the options to get PR from outside of Canada.

Less pressure on CEC rounds: if categories are recalibrated to invite more people already in Canada, that pulls some of the same candidates out of the “CEC-only” race. So fewer people are competing in those straight CEC draws, which should mean lower CRS cut-offs, if CEC draw volume remains the same.

Will IRCC still run regular CEC draws and regular category draws?

Most likely, yes. The real question isn’t whether regular CEC draws or regular category draws will disappear; it’s how they’ll be reshaped as this hybrid model expands.

CEC draws should still be the core in-Canada pathway that isn’t tied to one occupation. And category draws should continue where IRCC still needs to target specific shortages, especially when Canada can’t meet demand from within the country alone.

But if more categories get “CEC-layered,” that draw space has to come from somewhere. So, the practical impact could be fewer stand-alone CEC rounds and fewer stand-alone category rounds, simply to make room for more hybrid draws. In other words, there should be no replacement, but we can expect rebalancing.

What This Means for Applicants

This is all well and good, but what does it mean for applicants, whether they are inside Canada or abroad?

For candidates already in Canada, this could be a welcome evolution because it should create more ways to be selected. Instead of relying mainly on regular CEC draws, in-Canada workers in targeted categories would have extra chances to get an ITA through these hybrid rounds. And because those candidates are being pulled into category-CEC draws, it should also mean a bit less competition in the general CEC pool for everyone else.

For candidates outside Canada, this shift could be pretty disappointing. If more categories get reworked to favour people already in Canada, that means fewer ITAs available to outland applicants through Express Entry, making PR through EE feel even less attainable from abroad unless you first find a way to get Canadian experience. One exception to keep an eye on is French: for at least the last year, French-category draws have been the most reliable category route for outland candidates, and they may stay that way even if other categories tilt inward.

Stepping back, this is one of those shifts that looks small in a single announcement but could reshape how Express Entry works over the next couple of years. If IRCC keeps layering CEC into categories, we’re likely heading toward a system that prioritizes retention, targeting Canada’s most in-demand jobs by transitioning the people already doing them into PR.

That’s good news for many workers already here, but it narrows the door for candidates abroad unless they’re in a category that stays global-facing, like French might.

Either way, this could be the first sign of more category changes in 2026. Be sure to join our community to be the first to hear what’s changing,  and what it could mean for you.