The New Transport Category Occupations for 2026 Express Entry, Compared to the Old Truck Driver List
Same category name, completely different occupations. The 2026 express entry transport category occupations list has almost nothing in common with the one that ran back in 2023, and the switch is total enough that nothing carries over from one version to the next.
The 2023–24 version
The original transport occupations category launched with category-based selection in 2023 and ran three rounds: 20 September 2023 (1,000 ITAs, CRS 435), 20 December 2023 (670 ITAs, CRS 435), and 13 March 2024 (975 ITAs, CRS 430). IRCC’s own characterisation of that list, recorded when comparing it to the replacement, is that it was truck-driver-heavy, built around road transport occupations. It didn’t run again in 2025; the category simply wasn’t among the four categories continuing into that year.
Old transport category truck drivers, gone entirely
For 2026, IRCC brought the transport category back under a fresh occupation list that drops road transport altogether. The which transport occupations qualify for express entry now question has a completely different answer today: four occupations covering air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors; automotive service technicians; and aircraft mechanics and inspectors.
An express entry transport category pilots aircraft mechanics candidate today has nothing in common, occupation-wise, with a truck driver who might have qualified under the 2023 version. Someone who checked their eligibility against the old list and correctly ruled themselves out could easily now qualify under the new one, and vice versa.
Adding up the old version’s run
Across its three 2023–24 rounds, the original transport category issued 2,645 invitations in total — a modest run compared with the multi-thousand rounds now typical of French-language or CEC draws, and one that ended without warning when the category simply didn’t appear on the 2025 list at all. That history is a useful reminder that a category’s occupation list, its running total, and its very existence from one year to the next are all separate things worth checking fresh each time.
Where the new list stands so far
Announced on 18 February 2026 as part of the same package that introduced researchers, senior managers and skilled military recruits, this version of transport had recorded no draw at all as of the most recent published round data, 23 July 2026. Unlike physicians or senior managers, both of which drew within weeks of being announced, the 2026 transport category’s actual invitation activity remains untested.
Reading the comparison correctly
The old and new transport lists share a name and nothing else. That’s what the 2026 express entry transport category occupations list actually contains today, and anyone researching this route needs to check it directly on IRCC’s category-based selection page rather than relying on anything written about the earlier version — the two categories, despite the shared label, are built for entirely different workforces.
If you fly, fix aircraft, or drive for a living and want to know where you stand, a licensed RCIC or Canadian immigration lawyer is who to ask, not this page. What the record makes clear is that “transport category” is now a name attached to aviation and automotive trades, not road haulage, and it may take a first round before anyone learns what its cut-off actually looks like.