Looking at the 2019 Canada Provincial Nominee Programs

Updated: Apr 28, 2019 | Tags: Provincial Nominee Program, Canada Immigration

Introduction

While Canada continues to provide reliable travel services to visitors through the Canada visa and Canada ETA schemes, other areas of immigration are evolving, with the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) moving successfully forwards in 2019.

PNPs are designed to help participating provinces and territories to name a specified number of candidates as economic migrants. These individuals can then gain permanent residency within the country. PNPs differ vastly from Canada Visa and Canada ETA services, which offer temporary visits to the country.

With a growing importance as part of the Canada immigration strategy, PNPs are part of the government’s multi-year immigration levels plan from 2019 to 2021. Numbers of new permanent residents admitted through PNPs are set to rise from 61,000 to over 71,000 during these 2 years.

Canada has enhanced nomination streams and base nomination streams

Enhanced nomination streams enable provinces and territories to nominate candidates through the Express Entry system, which governs the pool of candidates for Canada's three major classes of economic immigration: The Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience classes.

Express Entry candidates with an enhanced provincial nomination receive an extra 600 points towards their ranking score. This can speed up their invitation to apply for permanent residency. Outside of the Express Entry system, base nominations are permitted and migrants can use these to apply for permanent residency.

An overview of the individual provinces

Saskatchewan

Changes to Saskatchewan’s list of in-demand occupations has had an influence on the base and enhanced International Skilled Worker categories, including the Express Entry and the Occupation In-Demand sub-categories. Both of these sub-categories require applicants to have suitable work experience in a listed occupation.

The updated in-demand occupations list now has 24 occupations, reflecting the province’s changing labor market requirements. Also, this list will be relevant for the province's future Expression of Interest (EOI) draws in both the Express Entry and Occupation In-Demand sub-categories. As part of the 5 draws so far in 2019, Saskatchewan has sent out over 800 invitations.

Ontario

In March 2019, Ontario announced that it will nominate 6,900 economic migrants for permanent residency. As the most densely populated province in Canada, Ontario a popular destination for migrants. This allocation is up by over 300 on last year and is made up of 6,650 nominations. There are 250 places for temporary foreign workers with intermediate skills, part of a new Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada incentive.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) will issue nominations through various Canada immigration pathways, including 3 Express Entry-aligned enhanced nomination streams. These are the Human Capital Priorities Stream, French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream and Skilled Trades Stream. The OINP searches the Express Entry pool and sends invitations to candidates with matching criteria.

All 3 streams have been active this year, with the Human Capital Priorities Stream issuing 1,493 invitations to date for applications for a provincial nomination. Also, the popular base nomination Masters Graduate Stream in Ontario has been open from March 5 2019. 1,000 new individuals in possession of a master’s degree from an Ontario university have registered.

Nova Scotia

A further major development so far in 2019 is Nova Scotia’s Express Entry-linked Labor Market Priorities Stream, inviting Express Entry applicants who have experience working as accountants or financial auditors. Individuals chosen in the draw of January 24 had an Express Entry ranking score of 400 to 450 and had completed their Express Entry profiles from July 1, 2018.

The enhanced Labour Market Priorities Stream was introduced in August 2018, allowing the Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP) to scan the Express Entry pool looking for eligible individuals with work experience in areas with labor shortages.

Before the draw on January 24 for financial auditors and accountants, the NSNP searched the stream to find candidates to invite for Express Entry if they had relevant experience working in early childhood education. A further Labour Market Priorities draw that took place on March 20 targeted Express Entry candidates whose major language was French.

Manitoba

The last 17 months have seen a steady rollout of the renewal program for the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. The Skilled Workers in Manitoba and Skilled Workers Overseas streams have benefitted from two new pathways. These include the enhanced nomination Manitoba Express Entry Pathway.

The final part of the renewal program — introducing the renewed Skilled Worker Overseas: Human Capital Pathway criteria — was due to go ahead in February but has not yet got underway.

The Human Capital Pathway is aimed at skilled international workers with work experience in an in-demand position according to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. Meanwhile, this program has continued issuing invitations based on current criteria for the Skilled Workers Overseas Stream.

The progress and commitment of Canada's provinces and territories within the government’s multi-year immigration levels plan helps to show the country's successful management of immigration during the 2019-2021 period.