Canada Confirms New Express Entry Categories in 2026

IRCC signalled big changes to its Express Entry category-based selection for 2026 in its annual consultation and public survey held between August and September last year. Today’s media briefing confirmed that there are significant changes coming to Canada’s Express Entry categories for this year.

Canada has announced three new categories for 2026 and confirmed that 6 of the existing 7 categories will continue in Canada’s Express Entry system.  

This article looks at the categories confirmed for 2026 and how they compare to those used in 2025.

Key Takeaways

• One new category was confirmed last year for 2026: Physicians with Canadian Work Experience. The first draw in this category will take place this week.
• IRCC will add categories for researchers and senior managers with Canadian work experience; candidates with work experience in transport occupations, including pilots, aircraft mechanics and inspectors; and highly skilled foreign military applicants recruited by the Canadian Armed Forces in key roles such as military doctors, nurses and pilots.
• Existing categories that will continue in 2026 include French, Healthcare and social services workers, trades, education occupations, and STEM, including cybersecurity workers.
• The minimum work experience required for all renewed categories has been increased from six months to one year of experience in an eligible occupation, gained in Canada or abroad over the previous three years.

What are the priority Express Entry Categories for 2026?  

1. French-language proficiency 
2. Healthcare and social services occupations 
3. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations 
4. Trade occupations 
5. Education occupations 
6. Transport occupations 
7. Physicians with Canadian work experience. You can learn more about the physicians with Canadian work experience category.
8. Senior managers with Canadian work experience 
9. Researchers with Canadian work experience 
10. Skilled military recruits 

You can watch the announcement covering the new categories for Express Entry in 2026 here:

New Express Entry Categories for 2026 

Canada’s government has confirmed that there will be new targeted categories for 2026:  

• researchers and senior managers with Canadian work experience 

• candidates with work experience in transport occupations, including pilots, aircraft mechanics and inspectors 

• highly skilled foreign military applicants recruited by the Canadian Armed Forces in key roles such as military doctors, nurses and pilots.

Occupations Eligible for New Express Entry Categories in 2026

Changes To Work Experience Required for Canadian Express Entry Categories

In an announcement published by the Canadian government following the press release, Canada also confirmed a significant change to the work experience requirement for category-based draws.

Candidates will now need to have one year of experience in an eligible occupation, gained in Canada or abroad over the previous three years.

Canada’s government notes that this change “will help select candidates who are more likely to succeed in their field in Canada.”

2025 Express Entry Categories vs 2026 Express Entry Categories 

In 2025, the Express Entry categories included:  

1. French-language proficiency 
2. Healthcare and social services occupations 
3. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations 
4. Trade occupations 
5. Agriculture and agri-food occupations 
6. Education occupations 
7. Physicians with Canadian work experience. 

It’s worth noting that the 7th category, physician with Canadian work experience was added late in 2025. The first round of invitations for this category was expected in ‘early 2026’.  

What’s more, the official IRCC announcement also implies that we will see a Physicians with Canadian work experience draw in the coming days. 

As you can see, the 2026 list of confirmed categories is much longer than the 2025 list. This is true even though Agriculture and agri-foods have been delisted as a priority category for 2026.

How Does This Compare to Categories Targeted in 2025? 

In 2025, category-based draws were limited to: 

• French-language proficiency 
• Education 
• Healthcare 
• Trades.

While the official 2025 category list also included Agriculture and agri-food, and STEM, the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan foreshadowed that there would not be draws for these categories in 2025. This turned out to be true. 

Despite not holding any STEM draws in 2025, STEM has been confirmed as a priority category in 2026. Agriculture and agri-foods has been delisted.

You can learn more about who was selected through Express Entry in 2025 in our detailed report.

How Does IRCC Decide on the Categories to Target?  

IRCC consults with provinces, territories, and stakeholders each year before making changes to categories for the following year. In 2025, these consultations happened between August 6 and September 3, 2025. 

As part of its consultation process for shaping the 2026 Express Entry priorities, IRCC shared a public survey asking for feedback on how category-based selection should evolve in 2026. The questions focused on big issues, like whether candidates should be chosen from inside or outside Canada, if work experience requirements should change, and what new categories might be added. 

In the 2024 survey, the only proposed category included in the consultation survey was Education. This was later added as a category for 2025. So these surveys have been linked to real changes in Canadian immigration. It looks like that trend continued on from the 2025 consultation period, with many of the potential changes being adopted for 2026.

Other Key Insights from the 2026 Express Entry Category Consultation 

IRCC’s 2026 Express Entry Economic Priorities Survey (which happened in 2025) also hinted at the following changes that may impact Express Entry this year: 

Balancing in-Canada talent with outside of Canada talent 

IRCC asked if future category-based selection should focus more on people already in Canada — like international students and temporary workers — or continue to include skilled workers both in-Canada and from other countries. This same question was asked in the previous survey, which shows IRCC is still exploring or deciding on this issue. 

Any change could have a significant impact on the balance between the number of in-Canada and outside-Canada applicants invited, especially considering in 2024, 50% (49,323) of Invitations to Apply went to applicants who were outside of Canada. 

Raising the work experience bar 

The survey had explored increasing the work experience requirement for category-based draws from 6 months in the last 3 years to 12 months.
This recommendation has now been adopted. The increased work experience requirement highlights greater emphasis on applicants with deeper, proven expertise in their field.

Adding Strategic New Categories 

As outlined in the consultation document, the survey highlighted leadership and senior management, scientific research roles, and highly skilled military recruits as potential new categories.

Today’s announcement confirmed all three of these as new categories for selection of permanent residents.

Clarifying the Role of General Draws 

General invitation rounds are only mentioned in the context of working alongside category-based selection, much like they do now, rather than returning as the primary selection method. This suggests IRCC may maintain its current structure, with general draws supporting targeted selection only. 

Impact on PGWP-Eligible Fields of Study 

IRCC has shared that it will not be changing the eligible fields of study for a Post Graduation Work Permit for 2026. As a result, we don’t expect these changes to the category-based draws to impact PGWP eligibility this year.