A look back at last month's Provincial Nominee Program updates and draw results from across the country.
Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) issued nearly 3,000 invitations to apply for provincial nomination in April. The PNP is an immigration program jointly administered by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. It offers Canadian provinces and territories the opportunity to create their own immigration streams to better meet their labour market needs and economic development objectives.
Canada introduced the PNP in 1998 to spread the benefits of immigration more evenly among provinces and to encourage immigration to smaller provinces and less populated areas of the country.
Today, the PNP accounts for a significant share of economic immigration to most provinces and territories in Canada. In fact, many smaller Canadian provinces such as Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan depend on this program to meet their demographic and labour force needs. By 2024, PNPs alone are expected to result in more than 93,000 immigrants per year being admitted as permanent residents.
Express Entry-linked PNPs
Most participating provinces and territories have at least one PNP stream that is aligned with the federal Express Entry system, which is Canada’s management system for three immigration programs: the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). Express Entry-linked PNP streams, also known as “enhanced” PNPs, allow a province to select candidates who have profiles in the Express Entry pool and invite them to apply for a provincial nomination.
Alberta
In April, the province invited 250 candidates to apply for a provincial nomination on April 14 under the Alberta Express Entry stream.
British Columbia
In April, more than 665 BC immigration candidates received invitations from the province.
Manitoba
Manitoba regularly issues invitations through the following three streams: Skilled Workers in Manitoba, Skilled Workers Overseas, and International Education Stream. A total of 526 Letters of Advice to Apply were issued of which 76 were sent to candidates who had a valid Express Entry profile.
Ontario
The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) issued a total of 1,335 invitations in April through two draws.The first draw the province invited 1,034 candidates who may qualify for Ontario’s Express Entry Skilled Trades stream.The second draw, the province invited 301 candidates who may be eligible to immigrate to Canada through Ontario’s Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker (FSSW) stream.
In April, the OINP also announced, a two-year Entrepreneur Pilot program that aims to help 100 immigrant entrepreneurs establish and grow businesses across the province outside of the Greater Toronto Area. help recovering from COVID-19.
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP) draws are prescheduled and held once a month. The PEI PNP held a draw on April 21 and invited 141 candidates from the Labour Impact and Express Entry streams and 11 from the Business Impact stream.
Quebec
Those who wish to settle in Quebec are assessed under a different system. Candidates who have profiles in the Arrima Expression of Interest system and a valid job offer outside of the Montreal Metropolitan area are considered for priority selection.
