Canada announces updated and new Express Entry categories for 2026, prioritizing top talent

What changed

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Programme (OINP) has changed the scoring for Canadian work experience earnings history within its Ontario Workforce Priority (OWP) stream's Expression of Interest (EOI) system. As of 5 October 2026, candidates who have earned CAD 80,000 or more in a single year during the last five years will receive 10 points. This update is automatically applied to all existing EOIs and aims to make the assessment process smoother for highly paid candidates in Ontario's workforce.

What changed

Canada has promised $6.863 million in new funding to support efforts to return, rehabilitate, and help Ukrainian children, unlawfully detained civilians, and prisoners of war reintegrate into society. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand, announced this at the 'Pathways to Peace' conference in Toronto, which Canada co-hosted with Ukraine and Norway. These initiatives aim to deal with the effects of Russia's invasion by backing organisations that work on finding people, protecting them, advocating for them, and directly supporting those affected and their families.

What changed

On 29 September 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced an investment of about $1.2 million through its Francophone Immigration Support Program (FISP) for several new projects. These projects, led by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Conseil économique et coopératif de la Saskatchewan, are designed to attract French-speaking and bilingual skilled people. The goal is to meet labour market demands and support French-speaking minority communities. In addition, the coordinated promotional campaign 'Osez le Nord' for Northern Ontario, which received FISP funding in 2025, has now been put into action. This shows Canada's continued commitment to increasing French-speaking immigration outside Quebec and improving the strength of French-speaking communities.

What changed

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Programme (BC PNP) has refreshed its 'Invitations to Apply' page, effective 7 October 2026. This update primarily involves the reorganisation and presentation of recent invitation to apply (ITA) data for both Skills Immigration and Entrepreneur Immigration streams. While no new policy changes or programme criteria have been introduced, the information now explicitly details draw results up to 24 September 2026 for Skills Immigration and 22 September 2026 for Entrepreneur Immigration. This provides registrants with a clearer, updated overview of recent selection activity.