Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs Witnessed a Busy Final Quarter of 2017

Over the past few years, Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs have shown that why their popularity as a legitimate pathway to Canadian permanent residence is increasing. These programs have been active particularly in British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba. They facilitate provinces and territories to nominate eligible candidates for Canadian permanent residence. These nominations are mainly based on labour market needs of the provinces and territories. The achievements of each Provincial Nominee Program with reference to their respective provinces and territories are as under.

British Columbia

British Columbia’s Provincial Nominee Program had also witnessed the busiest final quarter of 2017. A total of 1,738 invitations to apply (ITAs) were received by the candidates for provincial nomination. This included a wide range of categories in the Express Entry and Skilled Immigration streams. Besides this, the ITAs issued under the Tech Pilot of BC PNP are also worth mentioning. This program supports the technology sector of British Colombia by attracting and retaining the skilled talent. The BC PNP also invited 23 candidates via draws that took place on November 1 and November 29 under the Entrepreneur Immigration Stream.

Ontario

In early November 2017, Ontario issued new ‘Notifications of Interest’ under the Human Capital Priorities Stream. This stream assisted the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) to nominate candidates having professional skills who entered the federal Express Entry pool.

These Candidates received a ‘Notification of Interest’, which allowed them to apply under provincial nominee program. The Express Entry candidates having a provincial nomination can receive 600 points in addition to their Comprehensive Ranking System score. The designers and Software engineers were among the OINP’s top five nominee occupation categories. This followed by interactive media developers and computer programmers.

Manitoba

The announcement of Manitoba’s restructured Provincial Nomination Program was the biggest news of the last quarter of 2017. These changes are of great importance, as they include a new pathway aligned with Canada’s Express Entry system, the introduction of a new International Education Stream and the formation of an ‘In-demand occupations list’. The other restructured immigration streams are as follows:

• MPNP-B business immigration stream
• Skilled Worker in Manitoba Stream
• Skilled Worker Overseas Stream

Alberta

In October 2017, Alberta announced that it will launch two new provincial nomination streams including:

• The Alberta Opportunity Stream
• The Alberta Express Entry Stream

The Alberta Opportunity Stream is work in collaboration with the prevailing Strategic Recruitment Stream and Employer-Driven Stream. Apart from this, the stream will also include 11 sub-categories and there will be similar eligibility criteria for all these categories or streams.

A limited number of candidates under Alberta Express Entry Stream will seek nominations in the Express Entry pool. These candidates may also relate to these three economic immigration classes of the federal government.

• The Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC)
• The Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC)
• The Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

{Get More Information: Skilled Workers are now on Priority List}

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia received 225 applications after reopening its Category B of Nova Scotia Demand: Express Entry stream, on 9 December 2017. Just like other openings in 2017, the Category B also operated on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore,  the intake limit for this category was quickly achieved.

Category A: ‘Arranged Employment in Nova Scotia’ is still open. The candidates applying under this category must have a job offer. This job offer requires that a Nova Scotia employer must provide a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment.

Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan witnessed a busy final quarter of 2017, as it arranged two draws in the final quarter of the year. One of these draws related to the International Skilled Worker-Express Entry sub-category and the other associated with Entrepreneur stream.

The Express Entry draw regarding the International Skilled Worker category took place on October 26. This draw accepted more than 1,000 new applications for provincial nomination. On October 31, the Saskatchewan Entrepreneur Stream organized the biggest ever draw. Almost 285 international entrepreneurs received ITAs to apply for provincial nomination.

How Promising 2018 Looks

The year 2018 is looking more promising as it will turn out to be the busiest year for Canada’s PNPs. The Multi-Year Immigration Plan by the federal government will assist in increasing the PNP allocations during 2018. The target for allocation in 2018 is 55,000, which clearly suggests an eight percent increase as compared to the 51,000 target of 2017.