(CANADA) — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada launched a new immigration initiative to recruit experienced foreign military members into the Canadian Armed Forces, aiming to ease a staffing shortage that officials have called critical.
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced on February 18, 2026 that Canada created a new “Skilled Military Recruits” category under Express Entry that can invite eligible applicants to apply for permanent residence if they meet program requirements and have a Canadian Armed Forces job offer.
“We are creating a new category for skilled military recruits to attract highly skilled foreign military applicants. Eligible recruits with a job offer from the Canadian Armed Forces, including doctors, nurses, and pilots, can be invited to apply for permanent residence,” Metlege Diab said. “We’re not waiting for the right people to find us. We will go out into the world to recruit the people our country needs.”
Gen. Jenni Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff, framed the change as a way to align immigration selection with specific defence needs during remarks on February 23, 2026.
“With our colleagues from Immigration. we are able to put a bit of a spotlight on specific capabilities or individuals with skills that we are looking for as well. If you are a maritime technician operating somewhere. your file becomes very attractive as you’re planning to move to Canada,” Carignan said.
The new category places military recruitment inside Express Entry, Canada’s main application management system for economic immigration. Express Entry works by accepting candidate profiles into a pool, assigning a Comprehensive Ranking System score, and issuing Invitations to Apply, or ITAs, to those selected in draws.
Category-based selection sits alongside general draws by allowing Canada to target ITAs toward candidates who match a defined category. A military-focused category differs from a general draw by directing invitations toward role-aligned candidates, rather than the highest-scoring profiles across the pool.
Applicants still need to qualify under one of the three Express Entry programs before category targeting matters. IRCC listed the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and the Federal Skilled Trades Program as the three routes tied to the new category.
IRCC and defence officials tied the policy shift to a personnel gap and broader defence priorities. As of late 2025, the CAF regular force was nearly 6,000 members short of its authorized strength, a figure that officials have linked to pressures across training pipelines, readiness and retention.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a broader $6.6 billion Defense Industrial Strategy in February 2026 that prioritizes “Buy Canadian” military procurement and domestic defense industry growth. The immigration initiative sits within that wider push, linking staffing to procurement and modernization needs.
Under eligibility requirements described by IRCC, candidates must meet the criteria for the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, or the Federal Skilled Trades Program and show a service history that Canada can verify.
The initiative sets a minimum of 10 years of continuous service in a “recognized foreign military,” a threshold designed to target experienced personnel and make service records easier to validate through formal documentation.
IRCC listed “Verifiable military service records and release papers” as typical evidence for candidates. The documentation requirement aims to establish a clear chain of custody for service history and separation from prior forces.
Education also sits at the centre of the selection signals. IRCC said candidates must hold “A two-year post-secondary credential (Canadian or ECA-equivalent),” aligning the category with Express Entry’s broader emphasis on credentials.
A job offer can also form part of specific pathways into the category. IRCC said candidates may need “A job offer from the CAF for at least three years (for specific pathways),” linking immigration selection to longer-term staffing commitments within the Canadian Armed Forces.
Canada signalled priority roles that match current modernization and operational needs. IRCC said the program specifically targets F-35 fighter pilots, maritime technicians, military doctors, nurses, and specialists in cyber and space warfare.
Officials also linked the recruitment focus to allied partners, describing the initial emphasis as centred on countries where interoperability and security vetting often align with Canadian frameworks. Canada is prioritizing recruitment from NATO and Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partners.
IRCC listed the Five Eyes partners as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The category’s design aims to channel invitations toward applicants whose experience maps onto Canadian Armed Forces requirements for advanced aircraft roles, maritime occupations, medical fields and cyber and space specialties.
The move drew attention beyond Canada because it uses immigration selection as a lever for defence recruitment, placing a Canadian Armed Forces staffing goal directly into the logic of Express Entry draws. That mix can reshape which profiles receive ITAs, even when candidates might not sit at the top of the broader Express Entry pool.
As of February 24, 2026, there have been no official public statements or press releases from USCIS or the Department of Homeland Security specifically addressing Canada’s new Skilled Military Recruits category. Canada’s announcement nonetheless carries potential relevance for defence partners whose own militaries compete for skilled pilots, technicians and medical staff.
The U.S. Department of Defense reported a “strong start” to its own 2026 fiscal year recruitment on December 22, 2025, meeting 103% of its goals. IRCC’s materials did not include any official U.S. government commentary on the potential “brain drain” of U.S. personnel to Canada.
For individual applicants, the category introduces the possibility of receiving an ITA with lower Comprehensive Ranking System scores than general applicants, IRCC said. Category-based draws can shift competitiveness compared with general draws by narrowing the invited group, though selection still depends on meeting the underlying Express Entry program rules and matching the targeted criteria.
The pathway begins with meeting eligibility under the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, or the Federal Skilled Trades Program, then entering the Express Entry pool with a profile that supports the military category signals. For some candidates, that profile can interact with a Canadian Armed Forces job offer that lasts at least three years under specific pathways.
Even with targeted invitations, screening still applies. Military applicants must pass medical, security and admissibility checks, and the nature of prior service can make those checks more intensive.
IRCC also described a citizenship angle for recruits who join the CAF. Qualified foreign military members can receive permanent residency through Express Entry and then pursue citizenship, with CAF members often able to apply for citizenship after three years of service, and with some residency requirements reduced by one year compared to the standard process.
IRCC published details of its 2026 priorities in an online notice titled IRCC: 2026 Express Entry Category Consultations and New Priorities. The Department of National Defence set out related recruitment policy in Department of National Defence: Recruitment of Permanent Residents Policy, while the military’s enrolment standards appear under Canadian Armed Forces: Official Qualifications for Enrolment.
Carignan described the effort as a way to highlight in-demand capabilities within immigration selection without detaching recruiting from operational needs. “If you are a maritime technician operating somewhere. your file becomes very attractive as you’re planning to move to Canada,” she said.
Canada Boosts Express Entry for Foreign Military Recruits to Aid Canadian Armed Forces
Canada is leveraging its Express Entry system to recruit foreign military talent, addressing a critical 6,000-member staffing gap. The new Skilled Military Recruits category prioritizes experienced personnel from allied nations, offering a streamlined path to permanent residency for those with specific technical or medical skills. This initiative integrates defense requirements into immigration selection, supporting a broader multi-billion dollar national defense strategy.
