How the 67-Point Federal Skilled Worker Grid Works

Express Entry has two point systems and people mix them up. The Comprehensive Ranking System, out of 1,200, ranks everyone in the pool and decides who gets invited. The selection factor grid, out of 100, decides whether you qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program in the first place. The Canadian Experience Class and the trades program do not use it.

You need 67 on the grid. Below 67, IRCC says you do not qualify for this program, whatever your CRS score would have been.

Your first official language is worth up to 24. Each of the four abilities scores on its own: 6 points at CLB 9 or higher, 5 at CLB 8, 4 at CLB 7. Below CLB 7 in any ability, you are not eligible for the program at all.

Your second official language adds 4 points if you have at least CLB 5 in all four abilities. CLB 4 or lower in any one of them scores 0.

The points follow the level your credential is equal to in Canada, as shown by your educational credential assessment or your Canadian diploma. Doctorate: 25. Master's degree, or a professional degree needed to practise a licensed profession: 23. Two or more credentials, one of them three years or longer: 22. Bachelor's degree or a three-year program: 21. Two-year program: 19. One-year program: 15. Secondary school: 5.

One year of skilled work: 9 points. Two or three years: 11. Four or five years: 13. Six or more: 15. For these points the work can be in Canada or abroad, and IRCC counts work you did while studying or while self-employed. That is more generous than the Canadian Experience Class, which excludes self-employment and work done while studying full time.

Age 18 to 35 scores the full 12. From 36 the points fall by one each year: 11 at 36, 10 at 37, down to 1 at 46. From 47 the score is 0, and so is under 18. IRCC uses your age on the day it receives your application.

A valid job offer earns 10. The offer has to be for continuous, paid, full-time work of at least 30 hours a week, not seasonal, for at least one year, in TEER 0 to 3. On top of that the paperwork must fit one of four situations IRCC lists, which mostly turn on whether you already work for the employer and whether there is a labour market impact assessment. An offer that misses any of these earns nothing.

Several small items, capped at 10 in total. One year of full-time skilled work in Canada while authorized to work: 10 on its own. Two academic years of full-time study in Canada: 5. Arranged employment, on top of the 10 above: 5. A relative in Canada aged 18 or over who is a citizen or permanent resident, from IRCC's list of parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew: 5.

If a spouse or partner is coming with you, their CLB 4 or higher in all four abilities adds 5, their two years of Canadian study adds 5, and their year of Canadian work adds 5. The cap still applies.

Take someone aged 32 with a bachelor's degree assessed as equal to a Canadian one, three years of skilled work abroad, CLB 8 in all four abilities, no job offer and no ties to Canada. Language: 20. Education: 21. Work: 11. Age: 12. Total 64, three short of 67.

The same person at CLB 9 in all four abilities scores 24 for language and reaches 68. A second language at CLB 5 would add 4 instead. A sibling who is a permanent resident would add 5. Small moves clear the line; the trick is knowing which move is cheapest.

We score the grid before the CRS, because a strong CRS estimate is worthless if the grid comes up short. Then we find the cheapest three or four points, which in our experience is usually a language retest, and check that every point claimed can be proven with a document.