The Comprehensive Ranking Score (CRS) Calculator is a tool that was developed by the Canadian Government in order to calculate and rank potential skilled immigrant scores. This article will go in detail on what it measures and how each factor influences where you rank.
What is a CRS Calculator?
The CRS Calculator is otherwise known as the Canada Express Entry Points Calculator. The reasons for this is that it ranks the profiles that are submitted for Express Entry Programs. Each person who is a skilled worker and wants to immigrate to Canada must complete a profile with their qualifications and their personal information. The CRS Calculator then collects the point totals and ranks the profiles. Based on those rankings, the potential immigrants are then invited to apply for permanent residence in Canada.
The Canada immigration points calculator is one of the most important tools to understand if your goal is to immigrate to Canada as a skilled worker. You must make sure that you score in the best way possible in each factor in order to maximize your chances of being selected to apply.
What are the factors that get you Canada immigration points?
The CRS is a simple tool that is made up from 4 groups of factors. These factors are as follows:
- Core/Human capital factors
- Spouse or common-law partner factors
- Skill transferability factors
- Additional points
Each of the factors has a variety of levels where you can gain points.
Core/Human capital factors
Core/Human capital factors can differ depending on whether you have a spouse or common-law partner joining you in Canada or you are single. If your spouse or common-law partner is not joining you in Canada or they already a Canadian permanent resident or citizen, your points will be calculated as if you were applying as single.
The core or human capital factors consider the following:
- Age;
- Education;
- Official languages proficiency;
- Canadian work experience;
Spouse or common-law partner factors
Spouse or common-law partner factors consider the profile of your partner, similar to your core/human capital factors, such as:
- Level of education;
- Official languages proficiency;
- Canadian work experience;
Skill transferability factors
Skill transferability factors consider the following:
- A combination of your education, language proficiency, and Canadian work experience;
- Foreign work experience;
- Possession of a certificate of qualification for those who have a skilled trade;
Additional points
Finally, additional points consider different factors which can increase your point total, such as:
- Having a sibling in Canada who is a permanent resident or citizen;
- Skills that you have in French;
- Completing post-secondary education in Canada;
- Having arranged employment in Canada (a job offer letter);
- Having a provincial nomination;
All of these groups of factors are used to determine your ranking in the profile selection. The maximum points that you can get from them are 1,200 points. However, there is no set Canada express entry minimum points that you need to be selected.
The point totals are relative, meaning that it depends on how other profiles are scored. In one year, the point total might be very high and you might not be able to pass with 700 points, but if in the next year, the point total is lower, then you might qualify with that amount. Despite this, you must try to get the best possible scores, no matter what the other applicants will have.
How to calculate the Canada express entry points?
Each group of the factors that are considered has specific points. By finding out where you stand, you can calculate how many points you can get and decide whether you want to submit a profile or not. We will go through each factor and the levels considered with their corresponding points.
Core/human capital factors
The total points for these factors are 460 with a spouse or common-law partner and 500 without a spouse or common law partner.
| Age | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 100 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 110 points) |
| 17 years old or less | 0 | 0 |
| 18 years old | 90 | 99 |
| 19 years old | 95 | 105 |
| 20 to 29 years old | 100 | 110 |
| 30 years old | 95 | 105 |
| 31 years old | 90 | 99 |
| 32 years old | 85 | 94 |
| 33 years old | 80 | 88 |
| 34 years old | 75 | 83 |
| 35 years old | 70 | 77 |
| 36 years old | 65 | 72 |
| 37 years old | 60 | 66 |
| 38 years old | 55 | 61 |
| 39 years old | 50 | 55 |
| 40 years old | 45 | 50 |
| 41 years old | 35 | 39 |
| 42 years old | 25 | 28 |
| 43 years old | 15 | 17 |
| 44 years old | 5 | 6 |
| 45 years old or more | 0 | 0 |
| Level of Education | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 140 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 150 points) |
| Less than secondary school (high school) | 0 | 0 |
| Secondary diploma (high school graduation) | 28 | 30 |
| One-year degree, diploma or certificate from a college, university, technical or trade school, or other institute | 84 | 90 |
| Two-year program at a college, university, technical or trade school, or other institute | 91 | 98 |
| Bachelor’s degree OR a three or more year program at a college, university, technical or trade school, or other institute | 112 | 120 |
| Two or more certificates, diplomas, or degrees. One of them must be for a program of 3 or more years | 119 | 128 |
| Master’s degree, OR professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession (such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, chiropractic medicine, law, or pharmacy) | 126 | 135 |
| Doctoral level university degree (Ph.D) | 140 | 150 |
Language Proficiency for the First Official Language
All abilities are considered for ranking, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening to determine the proficiency.
For this factor, there is a maximum of 32 points for each ability (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) with a spouse or common-law partner, and 34 points for each ability without a spouse or common-law partner.
| Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level per ability | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 128 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 136 points) |
| Less than CLB 4 | 0 | 0 |
| CLB 4 or 5 | 6 | 6 |
| CLB 6 | 8 | 9 |
| CLB 7 | 16 | 17 |
| CLB 8 | 22 | 23 |
| CLB 9 | 29 | 31 |
| CLB 10 or more | 32 | 34 |
Official Language Proficiency for the Second Official Language
For the second official language, you can earn up to 22 points with a spouse or common-law partner and up to 24 points without a spouse or common-law partner.
| Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level per ability | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 22 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 24 points) |
| CLB 4 or less | 0 | 0 |
| CLB 5 or 6 | 1 | 1 |
| CLB 7 or 8 | 3 | 3 |
| CLB 9 or more | 6 | 6 |
| Canadian work experience | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 70 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 80 points) |
| None or less than a year | 0 | 0 |
| 1 year | 35 | 40 |
| 2 years | 46 | 53 |
| 3 years | 56 | 64 |
| 4 years | 63 | 72 |
| 5 years or more | 70 | 80 |
Spouse or common-law partner factors
The spouse or common-law partner points are additional points that you can get if your partner joins you in your application. The points that you will lose in the core/human capital factors because you have a partner, you can make them up in this section. The total points for the core/human capital and spouse or common-law partner factor are 500 points.
| Spouse’s or common-law partner’s level of education | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 10 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Does not apply) |
| Less than secondary school (high school) | 0 | n/a |
| Secondary diploma (high school graduation) | 2 | n/a |
| One-year degree, diploma or certificate from a college, university, technical or trade school, or other institute | 6 | n/a |
| Two-year program at a college, university, technical or trade school, or other institute | 7 | n/a |
| Bachelor’s degree OR a three or more year program at a college, university, technical or trade school, or other institute | 8 | n/a |
| Two or more certificates, diplomas, or degrees. One of them must be for a program of 3 or more years | 9 | n/a |
| Master’s degree, OR professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession (such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, chiropractic medicine, law, or pharmacy) | 10 | n/a |
| Doctoral level university degree (Ph.D) | 10 | n/a |
| Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level per ability – First official language | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 5 points per ability – reading, writing, speaking, listening) | Without a spouse or common-law partner(Does not apply) |
| CLB 4 or less | 0 | n/a |
| CLB 5 or 6 | 1 | n/a |
| CLB 7 or 8 | 3 | n/a |
| CLB 9 or more | 5 | n/a |
| Spouse’s Canadian work experience | With a spouse or common-law partner (Max. 10 points) | Without a spouse or common-law partner (Does not apply) |
| None or less than a year | 0 | n/a |
| 1 year | 5 | n/a |
| 2 years | 7 | n/a |
| 3 years | 8 | n/a |
| 4 years | 9 | n/a |
| 5 years or more | 10 | n/a |
Skill transferability factors
This factor will consider various education and work experience levels and the maximum points you can get are 100.
| With good official language proficiency (CLB 7 or higher) and a post-secondary degree | Points for CLB 7 or more on all first official language abilities, with one or more under CLB 9 (Max. 25 points) | Points for CLB 9 or more on all four first official language abilities (Max. 50 points) |
| Secondary school (high school) credential or less | 0 | 0 |
| Post-secondary program credential of one year or longer | 13 | 25 |
| Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer | 25 | 50 |
| With Canadian work experience and a post-secondary degree | Points for education + 1 year of Canadian work experience (Max. 25 points) | Points for education + 2 years or more of Canadian work experience (Max. 50 points) |
| Secondary school (high school) credential or less | 0 | 0 |
| Post-secondary program credential of one year or longer | 13 | 25 |
| Two or more post-secondary program credentials AND at least one of these credentials was issued on completion of a post-secondary program of three years or longer | 25 | 50 |
| Foreign work experience with good official language proficiency | Points for foreign work experience + CLB 7 or more on all first official language abilities, one or more under CLB 9 (Max. 25 points) | Points for foreign work experience + CLB 9 or more on all four first official language abilities (Max. 50 points) |
| No foreign work experience | 0 | 0 |
| 1 or 2 years of foreign work experience | 13 | 25 |
| 3 years or more of foreign work experience | 25 | 50 |
| Foreign work experience with Canadian work experience | Points for foreign work experience + 1 year of Canadian work experience (Max. 25 points) | Points for foreign work experience + 2 years or more of Canadian work experience (Max. 50 points) |
| No foreign work experience | 0 | 0 |
| 1 or 2 years of foreign work experience | 13 | 25 |
| 3 years or more of foreign work experience | 25 | 50 |
| Certificate of qualification (trade occupations) with good official language proficiency | Points for certificate of qualification + CLB 5 or more on all first official language abilities, one or more under 7 (Max. 25 points) | Points for certificate of qualification + CLB 7 or more on all four first official language abilities (Max. 50 points) |
| With a certificate of qualification | 25 | 50 |
The maximum amount of points you can get from the first three factors (core/human capital + spouse or common-law partner + skill transferability) are 600.
Additional points
The maximum amount of points you can get from the additional points is 600.
| Additional points | Point maximum |
| Sibling living in Canada who is a permanent resident or citizen of Canada | 15 |
| Scored NCLC 7 or higher on all French language skills and scored CLB 4 or lower in English (or didn’t take an English test) | 15 |
| Scored NCLC 7 or higher on all four French language skills and scored CLB 5 or higher on all four English skills | 30 |
| Post-secondary education in Canada – credential of one or two years | 15 |
| Post-secondary education in Canada – credential three years or longer | 30 |
| Arranged employment – NOC 00 | 200 |
| Arranged employment – any other NOC 0, A or B | 50 |
| Provincial or territorial nomination | 600 |
After totaling all the factors, the maximum amount of points you can get is 1,200.