Canada's PNPs | Highlights from 2021

Canada's PNPs | Highlights from 2021

Veronica Laurent Published:
January 13, 2022

The Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) now account for significant share of economic migration to the majority of Canada’s provinces and territories. In actuality, to many smaller Canadian provinces, notably Newfoundland and LabradorPrince Edward IslandNova ScotiaNew Brunswick.

Express Entry invitations for PNP nominees have been issued almost biweekly since the outbreak began. Other federal immigration programs, such as the Canadian Experience Class, have experienced interruptions or irregularities. Given the importance of PNPs to provinces and territories, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has ensured that Express Entry invitations are issued weekly.

Alberta

The commencement of the new fiscal year was signalled by the restart of PNP draws in early January 2021. Alberta reduced its immigrant intake and temporarily halted invitation rounds under the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program the previous year. The Alberta government announced that all 6,250 certificates for the year had been issued. The Alberta government stated in 2020 that it would create the Foreign Graduate Start-up Visa Route, a new immigration stream for foreign graduates (FGSVS). The new stream has been accepting applications since January 27, 2021.

Manitoba

Manitoba has also sent out invitations on a regular basis through their three streams:

  • Skilled workers in Manitoba

  • Skilled workers Overseas

  • International education

In 2021, the province hosted approximately 30 draws in each stream, inviting 11,179 immigrants to apply for a provincial nomination.

New Brunswick

New Brunswick announced a new immigration route on August 18, 2021, to fulfil the province’s growing labour demands. Beginning April 1, 2022, international students who graduate from one of New Brunswick‘s four established private career colleges and study in one of 19 identified occupations will be eligible to apply for the Provincial Nominee Program, which will allow them to work and live in the province while they wait for permanent residence.

British Columbia

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program invites the highest-scoring provincial candidates on a weekly basis. Furthermore, Express Entry British Columbia, Skills Immigration, and the Tech Stream are among the country’s most active programs. Around 11,500 persons applied for a provincial nomination this year in the province.

The province also announced that 20 communities have joined up for the Entrepreneur Immigration Regional Pilot’s second phase. They’re looking for entrepreneurs who have previously run similar businesses to start their pilot projects. Each municipality has its own pilot project and interested candidates should contact them directly to see if their idea is feasible.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador have begun taking applications under a new stream called Priority Skills Newfoundland and Labrador.  The new immigration stream is aimed at highly educated, highly skilled entrants. The program was created to aid in the alleviation of local labour shortages. It is open to newcomers with at least one year of work experience in highly-skilled, in-demand occupations, as well as post-graduates who have just completed a master’s degree or doctorate at Memorial University. According to statistics released by the province in November 2021, the government invited a total of 663 candidates to apply for a provincial nomination under the new nomination process.

Nova Scotia

The Nova Scotia Nominee Program announced in November 2021 that its Occupations in Demand Stream would accept applications from food industry personnel. Additionally, Nova Scotia added three more qualifying occupations to the stream to help alleviate shortages in the foodservice industry, which has been hit hard by the epidemic.

Ontario

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) held invitation rounds in most of its streams and began an Expression of Interest procedure for admission into some of the streams. In 2021, Ontario has given 7,432 invitations to apply for a provincial nomination under the five most popular streams.

Human Capital Priorities, French-Speaking Skilled Worker, and Skilled Trades are the three Express Entry-linked nomination streams in Ontario that have issued 8,234 Notifications of Interest to Express Entry applicants in 2021.

Prince Edward Island

The Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP) held monthly draws that were pre-scheduled. In 2021, the province invited 1,804 candidates. The Labour Impact and Express Entry streams each had invited 1,697 applicants, while the Business Impact stream invited 157.

Saskatchewan

Over 15 draws were held this year under two sub-categories of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), Express Entry and Occupations In-Demand, and issuing 6,799 invitations to apply for a provincial nomination. Health, manufacturing, agriculture, Agri-technology, construction, hospitality, and retail are among the province’s most in-demand labour sectors, and the Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot will help Saskatchewan businesses attract international talent in these fields.

In December 2021, the government had also launched a new International Healthcare Worker Expression of Interest (EOI) Pool, which will allow people to fill out an online form expressing their interest in working in a certain healthcare profession in Saskatchewan.

PNP streams, which are designed to attract immigrants of varying skill levels, are administered by provinces and territories. Most participating provinces and territories have at least one PNP stream linked to the federal Express Entry, which is Canada’s primary source of economic immigration.

Provinces can choose Express Entry applicants and urge them to apply for a provincial nomination through Express Entry-linked PNP streams, sometimes known as “enhanced” PNPs. Express Entry applicants who are nominated by a province or territory will have 600 points added to their CRS score.

Outside of Express Entry, PNP streams known as “base” PNPs can suggest applicants seeking permanent residency outside of the Express Entry system. Candidates for the PNP’s basic and enhanced streams can be submitted by provinces and territories. IRCC distributes nominations each year based on its yearly immigration levels planning and discussions with provinces. Between now and 2023, PNPs are expected to result in the acceptance of about 80,000 immigrants as permanent residents.

 

Check out Owlspriority Immigration’s Canada Settlement Resources to learn more about ways to find a new job in Canada, making your initial days in Canada stress-free and confident, etc.

 

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