Canada Proposes Three New Express Entry Categories for 2026 Immigration Stream

From 2026, Canada aims to introduce three occupational categories under the Express Entry immigration system. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada recently published a public consultation notice stating that the Canadian Government is seeking feedback from the Immigration on introducing the streams for Senior managers for Leadership roles, scientists and researchers for the Research and Innovation field and Skilled Military personnel role for National Security and Defence. These roles are created by the Canadian Government to meet Canada’s evolving economic, technological and national security needs. This should align with the Express Entry system processing, where the rules and regulations are under the creation process. These new roles will welcome highly skilled foreign nationals and also lead the pathway to permanent residence.

The newly drafted senior manager role seeks Leadership qualifications that are crucial for organisational operations and team management. Canada aims to attract talented individuals to contribute to the economy’s digital transformation, productivity and economic competitiveness. Further, roles for the Research and Innovation stream are crucial for inviting skilled professionals to contribute to the scientific and research fields in developing the economic performance and working on technological advancement. With this, we can understand that Canada has a strong intention to strengthen its economy with advanced innovations, even in the specific fields within science and research in the initial stage. The third category, National Security and Defence, focuses on skilled military professionals from allied nations. This would strengthen the Canadian Armed Forces with this introduction and is also a strategic international talent acquisition.
 
These three streams are a supplement to the existing 2025 Express Entry Categories. The present categories include French-language proficiency, healthcare and social services, skilled trades, education, STEM, and agriculture/agri-food occupations. All these existing categories will be retained for the upcoming 2026 year. Among these, IRCC focuses on Francophone immigration, where Canada aims to increase the French-speaking population up to 9.5% outside Quebec. On the other hand, Canada will continue to invite professionals for healthcare, construction, and education to meet the labour shortage. These category-based selections are always in demand as the streams are created to align with the National workforce needs. IRCC also give importance to the candidates residing in Canada; they are prioritised when compared to overseas applications.

These changes can impact not only the Express Enry system but also more than that. The impact can affect the Post-Graduation Work Permit, where IRCC says that these new introductions and adjustments to the Category-based selection. This will affect the eligibility of the PGWP, which will take effect from 2026. Presently, 119 PGWP graduates have been selected from the approved fields, and 178 fields have been removed. While there is an exemption in the fields-of-study restrictions for bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs. This addition of programs like research and leadership would expand or subject to revision of the eligible study list of programs. This public consultation remains open till 3 September 2025, where stakeholders and people get the opportunity to contribute to Canada Immigration.