Official IRCC grid

Should your partner come with you?

Including a spouse or common-law partner lowers the core-factor maximum from 500 to 460, but adds up to 40 points of their own. Whether that nets out in your favour depends entirely on their education, language and Canadian experience — so it has to be computed, not guessed.

Nothing entered about your partner yet

22points

These figures assume the weakest partner the grid allows — no credential above secondary school, no language test, no Canadian work. That is a placeholder, not a finding about your partner: fill in their details and the comparison can swing by tens of points.

Add your partner’s details

313

Core factors capped at 460, plus up to 40 for them

335

Core factors capped at 500

CRS sections scored with and without an accompanying partner.
Section	With partner	Alone	Difference
Core / human capital factors	300	322	-22
Spouse or common-law partner factors	0	0	—
Skill transferability factors	13	13	—
Additional points	0	0	—
Total	313	335	-22

Adjust your partner’s details in the calculator to see how much their language result or education changes this.

A higher CRS is not the only consideration, and often not the most important one. A partner who does not accompany you must still be declared and examined as part of your application. If they are not examined, the regulations exclude them from the family class permanently — you would not be able to sponsor them later at all, and this is one of the most common ways applicants lose that option. This page answers the points question only; the consequences here are worth professional advice.

Source: IRCC — Comprehensive Ranking System criteria; Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, s. 117(9)(d). Data current as of 2026-08-11.

Should your partner come with you?

Partner accompanies you

You apply alone

Where the difference comes from