Canada vs Australia Immigration 2026: What Governments Say

What this page compares and what it leaves out

This page sets out what the Canadian and Australian governments say on their official pages, check by check and in the same order for both countries: how each points system works, the main skilled-worker routes and the step to permanent residence, citizenship requirements, health cover, and dated recent changes, kept apart as in force or announced or proposed. Each statement comes from an official government page named in the sources, read on the date shown there. The page gives no verdict and does not say which country suits anyone. Where one country's pages state a fact and the other's do not, the text says so. Each government's planning figures are defined on its own page, and this page does not compare them. Rules change, so confirm each point on the official page.

Points systems: Canada

IRCC describes the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) as a points-based system used to assess and score a profile and rank it in the Express Entry pool, and says it invites candidates in rounds based on CRS points. Its core factors table lists, with a spouse or common-law partner and without one: age 100 and 110, level of education 140 and 150, official languages proficiency 150 and 160, Canadian work experience 70 and 80, and the page gives the core factors a maximum of 460 and 500 points in total. Its additional-points table lists maximum points per factor: 600 for a provincial or territorial nomination, 15 for a brother or sister living in Canada, 50 for French language skills and 30 for post-secondary education in Canada. The Federal Skilled Worker Program has its own score out of 100: 67 points or higher may qualify an applicant, and IRCC says these points differ from those used to rank a profile.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Rounds of invitations www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Federal Skilled Worker Program

Points systems: Australia

Home Affairs' overview of the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189, points-tested stream) says the applicant must have an occupation on the relevant skilled occupation list, have a suitable skills assessment, be invited to apply, and satisfy the points test. It says a person who submits an expression of interest (EOI) in SkillSelect is given an indicative points score, that a person who does not obtain a score of 65 points will not be invited, and that an invitation states the points to be scored at assessment, which may be higher than 65. Its points table lists, for age: 25 for at least 18 but less than 25 years, 30 for at least 25 but less than 33 years, 25 for at least 33 but less than 40 years and 15 for at least 40 but less than 45 years; for English: Competent English 0, Proficient English 10 and Superior English 20.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) — Points-tested stream immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Points table for Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189)

Skilled-worker route and permanent residence: Canada

IRCC says Express Entry manages applications from skilled workers for 3 programs: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. Candidates create a profile and enter the pool; IRCC invites those with the most points in rounds, and an invited candidate fills out the application. The Federal Skilled Worker Program is for skilled workers with foreign work experience who want to become permanent residents; IRCC's comparison table lists language skills of CLB 7 and an amount of work experience of 1 year continuous within the last 10 years, and says a job offer is not required, but selection criteria points can be earned for a valid job offer. The Canadian Experience Class is for skilled workers with Canadian work experience gained while authorized to work under temporary resident status, with at least 1 year of work or 1,560 hours in the 3 years before applying.

www.canada.ca: Immigrate through Express Entry www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Federal Skilled Worker Program www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Who can apply www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Canadian Experience Class

Provincial and territorial nomination and Express Entry: Canada

IRCC says a person who qualifies for both a province's or territory's nominee stream and a federal program under Express Entry, and is nominated, gets 600 extra points in Express Entry; a nominee who does not qualify for the federal program applies through a separate non-Express Entry process.

www.canada.ca: Immigrate as a provincial nominee

Skilled-worker route and permanent residence: Australia

Home Affairs says the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189, points-tested stream) lets invited workers live and work permanently anywhere in Australia, with no sponsor or nominator needed; the person must be invited to apply and must be under 45 to be invited. For the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190), a state or territory government agency must have nominated the person, and each agency has its own rules for deciding whom to nominate. For the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) Core Skills stream, the proposed employer must first submit a nomination, and the employer may be able to sponsor the holder for permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186). For the 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream, Home Affairs lists, usually, at least 2 years of full-time eligible sponsored employment while holding a subclass 457 or 482 visa.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) Core Skills stream immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) — Temporary Residence Transition stream

Citizenship requirements: Canada

IRCC says all applicants must have valid permanent resident status in Canada. An applicant must have been physically in Canada for at least 1,095 days (3 years) during the 5-year eligibility period before the date the application is signed, including at least 730 days as a permanent resident. Each day as a temporary resident or protected person in that period counts as 0.5 days, and at most 365 days of physical presence can be counted this way. Applicants aged between 18 and 54 on the day they sign must take the citizenship test and show adequate knowledge of English or French, with speaking and listening skills equivalent to level 4 of the Canadian Language Benchmarks for English or NCLC for French. IRCC also says Canada allows dual citizenship, but not every country does, so an applicant may lose their current citizenship.

www.canada.ca: Canadian citizenship for adults and minor children: Who can apply

Citizenship requirements: Australia

Home Affairs says a person applying for citizenship must be either a permanent resident or a New Zealand citizen holding a Special Category (subclass 444) visa, and states a general residence requirement: living in Australia on a valid visa for 4 years immediately before the day of applying, holding a permanent visa or the Special Category visa for the last 12 months immediately before applying, and not having been absent from Australia for more than 12 months in total in the past 4 years, including no more than 90 days in total in the 12 months immediately before applying. Home Affairs says Australian citizens may also hold the citizenship of another country or countries if the laws of those countries allow. This page does not describe the Australian citizenship test; check the Home Affairs citizenship pages for it.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Become an Australian citizen — Permanent residents including New Zealand Special Category visa holders immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Learn about being an Australian citizen

Health cover: Canada

IRCC says Canada has a universal health care system funded through taxes, that any Canadian citizen or permanent resident can apply for public health insurance, that each province and territory has a different health plan, and that a newcomer needs to apply for a health card from the province or territory. IRCC adds that in some provinces a newcomer may wait up to 3 months for public health insurance to start and should have private health insurance for that period, and that public health insurance in most cases does not cover prescription medication, and does not cover the cost of most dental services. Ontario says there is no longer a waiting period for OHIP coverage and that an eligible person will have immediate coverage. British Columbia says new residents may be eligible for MSP coverage after a wait period of the balance of the month in which residence is established, plus two months.

www.canada.ca: Health care in Canada: Access our universal health care system www.ontario.ca: Apply for OHIP and get a health card www2.gov.bc.ca: Apply for MSP

Health cover: Australia

Services Australia says a person living in Australia can enrol in Medicare if they are an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen, an Australian permanent resident, applying for permanent residency, or a temporary resident covered by a ministerial order; Home Affairs lists an applicant for permanent residency with the words 'conditions apply'. Home Affairs says that in most cases visitors to Australia are not eligible for Medicare; for the 482 Core Skills stream it says applicants are personally liable for healthcare costs and that maintaining adequate health insurance will be a condition of the visa.

www.servicesaustralia.gov.au: Enrolling in Medicare immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) — Points-tested stream immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Adequate health insurance for visa holders immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) Core Skills stream

What changed recently (in force): Canada

IRCC states that, as of 25 March 2025, it is removing job offer points from the CRS for current and future candidates in the Express Entry pool. Its fee-changes page says that on 30 April 2026 fees increase for all permanent residence applications, with the right of permanent residence fee for the principal applicant and accompanying spouse or common-law partner going from $575 to $600, and that the right of citizenship fee increased on 31 March 2026 from $119.75 to $123.00 (dollar amounts as printed by IRCC). IRCC states that Bill C-3 came into effect on 15 December 2025; IRCC's backgrounder describes it as extending citizenship by descent beyond the first generation.

www.canada.ca: Express Entry: Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria ircc.canada.ca: Citizenship and immigration application fee changes www.canada.ca: Bill C-3: An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) comes into effect

What changed recently (in force): Australia

Home Affairs says Ministerial Direction 121 (temporary skilled visas) and Ministerial Direction 122 (provisional and permanent skilled visas) came into effect on 19 September 2026 and replaced all processing priorities under Ministerial Direction 119. For certain provisional and permanent skilled visas it lists applications in an order of priority that begins with applications relating to the Construction, Healthcare, Teaching, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fishing and Resources sectors, or Australia's law enforcement and defence interests. Its English language page says the English language tests approved for Australian visa purposes changed on 7 August 2025, and that a result from a test taken before that date may still be valid as proof of proficient English for up to 3 years, depending on the visa subclass.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Skilled visa processing priorities immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Proficient English

Announced plans and proposals: Canada

In a news release dated 18 February 2026, IRCC said the Minister announced the 2026 categories under the Express Entry system, including new categories for foreign medical doctors, researchers and senior managers with Canadian work experience. IRCC's levels page says the 2026 - 2028 Immigration Levels Plan reduces arrival targets for new temporary residents and stabilizes targets for permanent resident admissions; for 2026 it prints economic (work) immigration at 63% of total admissions and 380,000 new permanent residents, 4% fewer than last year's target, as targets in a plan. It also lists a one-time, two-year initiative in 2026 and 2027 to fast track permanent residence for skilled temporary workers in specific in-demand sectors. Proposed, not in force: the Forward Regulatory Plan, which first included the item on 1 April 2026, says amendments are being proposed to introduce a new federal high skilled immigration class and repeal the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Class.

www.canada.ca: Canada prioritizes top talent in 2026 immigration Express Entry categories www.canada.ca: Canada’s immigration levels www.canada.ca: Forward Regulatory Plan: regulations amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to modernize the federal high skilled classes

Announced plans and proposals: Australia

Home Affairs says that on 12 May 2026 the Australian Government announced that the 2026–27 Permanent Migration Program will be set at 185,000 places, with an approximate 70:30 split between the Skilled Migration Program and the Australian Family Program, and that the overall planning level and the split are unchanged from 2025–26. It also says the Government will prioritise applications from onshore migrants across the Skilled and Family programs, allocating 129,590 places to migrants already living in Australia. These are planning levels for a programme year. Announced, not in force: the Australian Government's Budget Paper No. 2 of 12 May 2026 says the Government will reform the permanent migration points test, and that the points test will be optimised to select better educated, higher-skilled and younger migrants overall. The points set out above are those printed on the Home Affairs pages when this page was read. None of the cited Australian pages describes a proposed change to the citizenship requirements described above.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au: Permanent Migration Program planning levels budget.gov.au: Budget 2026–27, Budget Paper No. 2: Budget Measures

What this page does not cover

This page does not cover the jobs market, salaries, living costs, climate or lifestyle in either country, which country suits a particular person, processing times, or advice on any application. It reads only the official pages named in the sources and covers only the routes, citizenship requirements, health cover and changes described above; study, investor, humanitarian and other routes are left out, and so are family routes. Canadian health cover is described for Ontario and British Columbia only. This page does not give an overall points total or invitation-round cut-off scores; check the official pages for them. It is not legal or immigration advice: confirm each point on the official page before acting on it.