If your own CRS score as primary applicant is weak, it's worth checking whether flipping roles with your spouse raises your household score.
What group members advised:- Foreign work experience of a spouse is not counted in CRS calculations at all, regardless of who is primary — this rules out a spouse's foreign years as a scoring lever.
- As a secondary applicant, your spouse's work experience only adds points if it's Canadian experience — foreign experience as secondary applicant contributes nothing either.
- Compare the CRS score with your spouse as primary applicant against your own — if it's genuinely higher with the spouse as primary, group consensus was to go ahead and create the profile that way.
Takeaway: the decision comes down to plain CRS math — foreign spousal experience never counts, so calculate both scenarios (you as primary vs. spouse as primary) and pick whichever nets a higher CRS.