Express Entry · Proposed reforms
IRCC has proposed removing your sibling points and your spouse's
On 16 October IRCC published two documents. The whole market reported the first and nobody read the second. The second is the one that decides what your score looks like next, and none of it is law yet.
The short answer
IRCC has proposed removing the 15 CRS points for a brother or sister living in Canada and the spouse or partner points grid worth up to 40, merging the three federal high-skilled programmes, narrowing trade certificate points to Red Seal designated trades, and reforming the age curve. All of it is proposed and none of it is decided. Changes of this kind require amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, pre-published in Canada Gazette Part I, and no such notice has appeared.
What is on the table, and what it is worth today
IRCC consulted between April and May 2026 and published the result on 16 October: 17,500 survey respondents, 1,021 information session attendees, 109 roundtable participants and 42 written submissions. These are the proposals that report discusses.
- A brother or sister living in Canada15 points
- Removal. One industry association quoted in the report describes it as a factor "with limited value".
- The spouse or partner points gridup to 40 points
- Removal, so a principal applicant is scored on their own merits regardless of marital status. IRCC clarifies this would not stop anyone bringing a spouse.
- Certificate of qualification in a tradepart of skill transferability
- Narrowing to Red Seal designated trades, plus provincial and territorial certificates for those trades. Stakeholders warned it would exclude non-Red Seal trades.
- Ageup to 110 points
- Reform. Feedback in the report says the current curve disadvantages highly qualified mid-career candidates.
- Canadian licensure outside the tradesnothing today
- Recognition. Participants supported it and flagged how hard full licensure is.
Alongside those, the report discusses merging the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Trades Program into a single federal high-skilled programme, with minimum entry criteria of Canadian high school equivalency and Canadian Language Benchmark 6. Feedback on that threshold was mixed: some said CLB 6 and high school were too high, others that they were too low for a high-skilled programme.
Why this matters more to an Indian candidate than the job-offer story did
The 3 November change rewards Canadian work experience and Canadian job offers, which most candidates applying from India do not have. These proposals are different: they take away things that Indian profiles are unusually likely to be carrying.
A brother or sister settled in Canada is common in Gujarat, and it is worth 15 points today. A spouse with strong IELTS is extremely common, and the grid built on their education, language and Canadian experience is worth up to 40. Those two together are 55 points, which is the difference between a profile that clears a category round and one that watches it.
What this is not a reason to do
What it is a reason to do is understand which parts of your score are yours alone. A profile that only clears a cut-off because of a sibling and a spouse's test results is a profile exposed to this package. Check what your own score would have done over the last twelve months of real rounds, and see which category you actually compete in.
Why nobody can give you a date
IRCC's stated next step is amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations and new Ministerial Instructions. Regulatory amendments in Canada are pre-published in Canada Gazette Part I, which opens a comment period, before anything comes into force. That pre-publication is the first moment a date becomes possible.
We checked the Gazette rather than assuming. Part I of 17 October 2026, the first issue after the announcement, carries no immigration item at all. So the honest position is that these proposals are real, they are IRCC's own, and they have not started the process that gives them a date.
What does have a date
The labour market integration factor starts on 3 November 2026, it is already law, and it pauses the draws while every profile is rescored. What changes on the 3rd and why the rounds stop.
Common questions
Is Canada removing sibling points from Express Entry?
Removing the points for a sibling in Canada is one of the proposals IRCC consulted on in 2026, and it has not been decided. The factor is currently worth 15 CRS points for a brother or sister aged 18 or over who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. IRCC's final report on that consultation, published 16 October 2026, records stakeholder support for removing factors of limited predictive value and names the sibling points as an example. Any change requires amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, pre-published in Canada Gazette Part I, and no such notice has appeared.
Will Express Entry stop giving points for a spouse?
Removing the spousal points grid is proposed and not decided. The grid is currently worth up to 40 CRS points, made up of 10 for the spouse's education, 20 for their language ability and 10 for their Canadian work experience. IRCC adds a clarification in its own report: removing the grid would not prohibit principal applicants from immigrating with their spouses, and the applicant would instead be assessed on their own merits regardless of marital status. For a couple where the spouse's test scores are carrying part of the profile, this is the single most consequential item in the package.
When will the new Express Entry rules take effect?
No date exists for these proposals, and anyone quoting one is guessing. IRCC's stated next step is amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations and new Ministerial Instructions, and regulatory amendments are pre-published in Canada Gazette Part I before they come into force. Checked on 19 October 2026: the Part I issue of 17 October 2026, the first after the announcement, carries no immigration item. The separate change that does have a date is the labour market integration factor, which starts on 3 November 2026 and is already law.
Express Entry
Find out how much of your score is actually yours.
We will tell you which parts of your profile survive these proposals and which do not, and we will not tell you to file against a deadline that has not been set. Canadian applications are prepared under RCIC licence R710507.
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