CRS Points Grid 2026: Complete Express Entry Points Breakdown

The Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) awards points across four sections: Core/Human Capital Factors, Spouse or Common-Law Partner Factors, Skill Transferability Factors, and Additional Points. The maximum possible score is 1,200 points.

This page sets out every point value in the current CRS grid, taken directly from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) official criteria. It also includes a worked example so you can see how the numbers combine into a final score.

If you want your own score calculated automatically, use the CRS Calculator. This page is meant to be read alongside it, as a reference for exactly how each factor is scored.

CRS Sections at a Glance

How the CRS Points System Is Structured

Your CRS score is built from up to four sections:

• Core/Human Capital Factors: your own age, education, language ability, and Canadian work experience. Maximum 500 points if you have no accompanying spouse or common-law partner, or 460 points if you do.
• Spouse or Common-Law Partner Factors: your spouse’s education, language ability, and Canadian work experience, if they are accompanying you. Maximum 40 points.
• Skill Transferability Factors: combinations of your education, work experience, and language ability. Maximum 100 points.
• Additional Points: a sibling in Canada, French-language ability, Canadian post-secondary education, and a provincial or territorial nomination. Maximum 600 points.

Sections A and B together never exceed 500 points, whether or not you have a spouse. The full breakdown of each section follows below.

Core/Human Capital Factors

These points are based on your own profile. The maximum is 500 points without an accompanying spouse or common-law partner, or 460 points with one (the remaining 40 points are allocated to your spouse’s factors instead, covered in the next section).

You are scored as if you do not have a spouse or common-law partner if they are not coming with you to Canada, or if they are already a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

Age

Age points peak between 20 and 29, then decrease each year after 30.

Education

What counts as a “professional degree” here. For this Core Human Capital table, IRCC defines this narrowly. It only applies if the degree program was in medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, law, chiropractic medicine, or pharmacy. A professional degree outside this list, however advanced, is scored under the general credential categories above it, not the “Master’s or professional degree” row. This definition applies only here. The Skill Transferability section later on this page uses a different, broader definition, explained in that section.

First Official Language

You choose whichever official language you scored higher in as your first language. Points are awarded per ability (reading, writing, listening, speaking), then added together.

Maximum for first official language: 128 points with a spouse, 136 points without.

Second Official Language

Maximum for second official language: 22 points with a spouse, 24 points without.

Canadian Work Experience

Canadian work experience means work for a Canadian employer, performed in Canada. Remote work counts only if you were physically located in Canada while doing it.

Spouse or Common-Law Partner Factors

If your spouse or common-law partner is accompanying you to Canada, and they are not already a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, their profile can add up to 40 points. These points only apply in this scenario. If you have no spouse, or your spouse is not accompanying you, this section does not apply and your Core/Human Capital maximum is 500 instead of 460.

Education

Maximum: 10 points.

First Official Language

Maximum: 20 points.

Canadian Work Experience

Maximum: 10 points.

Added together, spouse factors cap at 40 points (10 education, 20 language, 10 work experience).

Skill Transferability Factors

This section rewards specific combinations of education, work experience, language ability, and trade certification. The overall maximum is 100 points, and each of the sub-categories below is individually capped at 50 points. Your total across the whole section still cannot exceed 100, even if your combined sub-category scores would add up to more.

The exact points you receive here depend on your own specific combination of education, language ability, foreign work experience, Canadian work experience, and certificate of qualification. The worked example later on this page shows one possible combination and should not be treated as a template that applies to every profile.

Education Combined With Language Ability

Applies if you have strong official language ability (CLB 7 or higher on all abilities) and a post-secondary credential.

A different “professional degree” definition applies here. The “Master’s degree or entry-to-practice professional degree” row in this table is not the same as the professional-degree category used in the Core Human Capital education table above. Here, IRCC’s definition is broader: a university-level credential at the master’s level, or at the level of an entry-to-practice professional degree for an occupation listed in the National Occupational Classification matrix at Skill Level A, for which licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required. It is not limited to the specific list of professions (medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, law, chiropractic medicine, pharmacy) used earlier for Core Human Capital points. The two definitions should not be treated as interchangeable.

Education Combined With Canadian Work Experience

The same broader professional-degree definition described above applies to this table as well.

Foreign Work Experience Combined With Language Ability

Applies if you have CLB 7 or higher on all abilities.

Foreign Work Experience Combined With Canadian Work Experience

Certificate of Qualification Combined With Language Ability

For candidates in trade occupations with a certificate of qualification issued by a Canadian province, territory, or federal body.

For each table above, match your profile to the single highest applicable credential or experience tier.

Additional Points

This section can add up to 600 points.

Sibling in Canada

French-Language Ability

Canadian Post-Secondary Education

Provincial or Territorial Nomination

A provincial or territorial nomination adds 600 points, more than half of the 1,200-point maximum CRS score. This is the largest single point value in the CRS system.

Job Offer Points Removed

As of March 25, 2025, IRCC removed job offer points from the CRS for all current and future candidates in the Express Entry pool. This removed:

• 200 points for a job offer classified under Major Group 00 of the National Occupational Classification (senior management positions)
• 50 points for a job offer in any other skilled occupation

These points no longer exist in the CRS grid shown above. A valid job offer can still matter for eligibility under certain programs, including the Federal Skilled Trades Program, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and some provincial nominee program streams, but it does not add CRS points.

Worked CRS Example

The profile below is entirely hypothetical, used only to show how the sections combine into a final score.

Profile: Single applicant, no accompanying spouse or common-law partner, age 29, holds a Bachelor’s degree, scored CLB 9 on all four abilities in their first official language (English), CLB 5 on all four abilities in their second official language (French), and has 2 years of Canadian work experience. No foreign work experience, no certificate of qualification, no sibling in Canada, no Canadian post-secondary credential, no provincial nomination.

Step 1: Core/Human Capital Factors (no spouse, maximum 500)

Step 2: Spouse or Common-Law Partner Factors

Not applicable. This candidate has no accompanying spouse, so this section contributes 0 points and the Core maximum used above is 500, not 460.

Step 3: Skill Transferability Factors (maximum 100)

The candidate holds a Bachelor’s degree and has CLB 9 on all abilities in their first language, which qualifies under “Education combined with language ability” at the CLB 9+ row for a one-credential post-secondary holder: 25 points.

The candidate also has a Bachelor’s degree and 2 years of Canadian work experience, which qualifies under “Education combined with Canadian work experience” at the 2-years-or-more row: 25 points.

The candidate has no foreign work experience, so both foreign work experience categories contribute 0 points:

• Foreign work experience combined with language ability: 0 points (no foreign work experience)
• Foreign work experience combined with Canadian work experience: 0 points (no foreign work experience)

The candidate has no certificate of qualification, so this category also contributes 0 points:

• Certificate of qualification combined with language ability: 0 points (no certificate of qualification)

Step 4: Additional Points

No sibling in Canada, no qualifying French result (this candidate’s French is CLB 5, not NCLC 7), no Canadian post-secondary credential, no provincial nomination.

Final CRS Score

This example shows how a strong language result feeds into two different sections at once: it raises the core language score directly, and it also unlocks points in skill transferability through the education and work experience combinations. Small language improvements can therefore be worth more than they first appear.

Using This Page With Our Calculator

The tables above show every point value in the CRS grid, but adding them up by hand is easy to get wrong, particularly in the skill transferability section, where only certain combinations apply and the 50-point sub-caps and 100-point overall cap both need to be tracked at once.

The CRS Calculator applies these same tables automatically based on your answers, including the correct cap for your situation, so you do not have to work through each table manually. This page is meant to help you understand where your score comes from, not to replace the calculator itself.

FAQ

What is the maximum CRS score?

The maximum possible CRS score is 1,200 points, combining Core/Human Capital Factors, Spouse or Common-Law Partner Factors, Skill Transferability Factors, and Additional Points.

Why is the Core/Human Capital maximum 460 with a spouse instead of 500?

When you have an accompanying spouse or common-law partner, 40 of the points that would otherwise go toward your own Core/Human Capital Factors are instead allocated to your spouse’s education, language ability, and Canadian work experience. Your own core maximum becomes 460, and your spouse’s factors add up to 40, keeping the combined total at 500 either way.

How many CRS points can a provincial nomination add?

A provincial or territorial nomination adds 600 points, the largest single point value in the CRS system.

Do job offers still give CRS points?

No. As of March 25, 2025, IRCC removed all CRS points for job offers, including the previous 200-point and 50-point categories. A job offer may still matter for program eligibility in some cases, but it does not increase your CRS score.

What counts as a professional degree?

This depends on which part of the CRS grid you’re looking at. For Core Human Capital education points, IRCC only counts a professional degree if it was required to practise in a licensed profession in medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, law, chiropractic medicine, or pharmacy. For Skill Transferability points, IRCC uses a broader definition: a master’s-level credential, or an entry-to-practice professional degree for an occupation listed at Skill Level A in the National Occupational Classification matrix, where licensing by a provincial regulatory body is required. These two definitions are not interchangeable, so a degree that qualifies under one may not automatically qualify under the other.

How are language points calculated?

Language points are awarded per ability (reading, writing, listening, speaking) based on your Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level for each ability, then added together. Your first official language has a higher point ceiling than your second official language.

How does Canadian work experience affect CRS?

Canadian work experience earns points directly in the Core/Human Capital Factors section, based on how many years you have. It can also unlock additional points in the Skill Transferability Factors section when combined with your education or foreign work experience.

Sources

All point values on this page are taken directly from IRCC’s official Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria page on canada.ca, which was last modified by IRCC on June 22, 2026. This page was last verified against that source on September 5, 2026.