Foreign Work Experience: Your CRS Boost for Express Entry Canada

How Foreign Work Experience Can Boost Your CRS Score for Express Entry

Already working in Canada and planning to apply for permanent residence through Express Entry? You might be surprised to learn that your foreign work experience could give your Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score the boost it needs to get an Invitation to Apply (ITA)—sometimes even more than staying in Canada to rack up additional work experience.

Let’s break down how foreign work experience fits into the Express Entry points system, when it’s most beneficial, and how you can use it to your advantage in today’s increasingly competitive immigration landscape.

Key Highlights

• Foreign work experience contributes up to 50 CRS points under skill transferability.
• Combining foreign experience with Canadian work and high language scores maximizes your points.
• Sometimes, gaining international work experience is more beneficial than staying in Canada longer.
• Canadian work experience caps out for skill transferability after two years.
• Foreign work experience can be a game-changer in high CRS cut-off years like 2025.

How Foreign Work Experience Impacts Your CRS Score

In the Express Entry system, your CRS score determines your eligibility for an ITA. One key area where foreign work experience plays a role is in the skills transferability factor. This category combines your work experience—both Canadian and foreign—with your language skills and education to award up to 100 points.

Here’s how those points are allocated:

• Education + language proficiency and/or Canadian experience: up to 50 points
• Foreign work experience + language proficiency and/or Canadian experience: up to 50 points
• Certificate of qualification in a trade: up to 50 points

So, if you’re aiming to maximize your CRS score, your foreign work credentials could be a valuable asset—especially when paired with strong English or French skills and some Canadian work experience.

CRS Points for Foreign Work Experience

Let’s look at how the points shake out when you combine foreign experience with Canadian experience and language proficiency:

As you can see, one to two years of foreign work can land you up to 25 points, and three years or more can be worth as much as 50 points—provided your language scores and Canadian experience are also strong.

How Canadian Work Experience Impacts the CRS

Canadian experience is part of the core human capital section of the CRS score. If you’re applying without a spouse or partner, here’s what you can earn based on the number of years you’ve worked in Canada:

Most of the benefit comes early: your first year nets 40 points, while the second adds 13. After that, the yearly gain shrinks. On the skill transferability side, Canadian experience maxes out after two years—so extra years beyond that won’t help your score in that category.

Why Foreign Experience Can Sometimes Be the Better Bet

Let’s look at an example that shows just how powerful foreign work experience can be when used strategically.

Meet Aliyah

Aliyah is 26 years old, has a bachelor’s degree from a Canadian university, and works in HR. She scores a CLB 9 in English but doesn’t speak French.

After graduating, she works for two years in Canada, then adds a third year by switching employers. Her CRS score with three years of Canadian work experience looks like this:

Now here’s the twist: if instead of working a third year in Canada, Aliyah had returned to the Bahamas and gained just one year of foreign work experience, her new score would be:

That’s a 39-point jump just from adding one year of international experience—and it makes a big difference in today’s competitive Express Entry pool.

Why This Matters in 2025

CRS cut-off scores in 2025 have been sitting high, especially in Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws. So far this year, they’ve ranged between 518 and 547. That means if Aliyah had only her three years of Canadian work, she would’ve fallen short. But with two years in Canada and one abroad, she scores 549—enough to secure an ITA.

And it’s not just about post-Canada experience. If Aliyah had worked abroad before coming to study in Canada, that year could still count—as long as it was within 10 years of applying.

Boost Your CRS Score Strategically

With cut-offs staying high and competition growing, foreign work experience is more important than ever for Express Entry candidates. It’s a smart way to leverage your global background and stand out in the pool—even if you’re already in Canada.

Curious how your own combination of experience stacks up? Use our CRS calculator tool to find out where you stand and how you can improve your score.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re just starting out on your Express Entry journey or already building Canadian experience, don’t overlook the value of your international work history. When paired with strong language skills and strategic planning, it can be the difference between waiting in the pool or receiving your ITA.

Looking for more ways to increase your score or explore other immigration streams like the Manitoba PNP? We’ve got you covered.

Want help planning your next step? Check out our other posts on Express Entry, provincial nominee programs, and CRS tips—or get in touch with an expert.