With 4,500 plus invitations to submit for provincial nomination issued this month, Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) are off to a good start in 2022. PNP programs allow provinces and territories in Canada to establish their immigration streams better to fulfill their labour market demands and economic development goals.
Why Consider Provincial Nominee Programs in 2022?
The PNP was established in 1998 to distribute the benefits of immigration among provinces more equitably and encourage immigration to smaller provinces and less densely inhabited areas. The PNP now accounts for a large portion of economic immigration to most Canadian provinces and territories.
In reality, many smaller Canadian provinces rely on this program to meet their demographic and labour force demands, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Between now and 2023, PNPs are likely to result in the admission of more than 80,000 immigrants as permanent residents.
Express Entry Based PNPs
The federal Express Entry system 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). Most participating provinces and territories have at least one PNP stream aligned with the federal Express Entry system.
PNP streams linked to Express Entry, often known as “enhanced” PNPs, allow provinces to choose applicants from the Express Entry pool and ask them to seek a provincial nomination.
While FSW, CEC and FSTP are Paused, PNP will Continue
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has temporarily suspended issuing Express Entry invites to FSWP, CEC, and FSTP candidates to decrease the backlog and processing delays affecting permanent residence applications.
Given the importance of the PNP to provinces and territories, the IRCC has assured that Express Entry invitations for PNP candidates are still delivered every two weeks, as is customary. Sean Fraser, Canada’s Immigration Minister, reaffirmed the government’s intention to invite PNP candidates last week.
IRCC held two draws in January 2022, inviting 1,428 PNP candidates through Express Entry. The most recent draw, which took place on January 19, resulted in 1,032 Invitations to Apply being sent out to provincial nominee candidates. Check out the detailed breakup of invitations in the following table:
| Province | No. of Invitations | Programs |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 250 | Alberta Express Entry Stream |
| British Columbia | 714 | British Columbia Express Entry, Skills Immigration, Tech stream |
| Manitoba | 166 | Skilled Workers Manitoba, Skilled Workers Overseas, International Education Stream |
| Ontario | 2,618 | Employer Job Offer, Foreign Worker, International Student, In-Demand Skills stream, Express Entry Human Capital Priorities, Ontario Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream |
| Prince Edward Island | 121 | Labour Impact, Express Entry streams, Business Impact stream |
| Saskatchewan | 104 | SINP Express Entry, Occupations In-Demand |
