Ontario, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island have invited candidates in the most recent round of the Provincial Nominating Program (PNP).
The PNP was established because immigration is a shared responsibility between the provincial and federal governments. It allows provincial governments to exercise greater control over the selection of economic immigrants who settle within a nominating province.
Provincial governments tend to select qualified candidates who are most likely to fill gaps in the local labor force and thus integrate easily into the local economy. Put another way, the provinces nominate the candidates who are most likely to remain in the province and succeed.
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A candidate who is nominated by a province has a much higher chance of receiving an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence. Additionally, Express Entry candidates who are nominated receive an additional 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points, virtually guaranteeing an ITA in a future draw.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) allocates available PNP nominations to each province based on the goals of the most recent Immigration Levels Plan, an annual plan that outlines the goal for permanent resident admissions over the next three years.
Recently, the provinces have been calling for more autonomy over economic immigration and have indicated that they would like individual agreements with the federal government, just like Quebec. Quebec has full authority over the selection of economic immigrants as outlined in the Canada-Quebec Agreement. It is the only province in Canada that has such an agreement.
While such agreements have yet to be reached, in March of this year, the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration met and ratified a new IRCC initiative, a Provincial Immigration Levels Plan that outlines provincial nomination allocations for the next three years, most of which are higher than before.
This will give provinces greater ability to plan for more newcomers and ensure that there are adequate jobs, housing and other important infrastructure to support newcomers and make the province an attractive destination.
Provincial Immigration Results July 15-20
ontario
Ontario held two draws on July 20 under the Express Entry Human Capital Priority Stream for candidates in specific occupations.
The province invited 902 candidates in a lottery for candidates in technology occupations and 159 in a lottery for health professionals. All candidates required a CRS score in the 458-462 range.
These provincial results are similar to the recently introduced category-based selection rounds of Express Entry invitations. So far this summer, 2,000 healthcare professionals and 500 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) candidates have received ITAs in federal Express Entry draws.
british columbia
On July 18, British Columbia held its usual Tuesday PNP draw.
This week, the province invited more than 167 candidates in four draws. All candidates were participants in the International Graduate or Skilled Worker Streams and Express Entry candidates were included.
The largest draw focused on 112 candidates with tech occupations. They required a minimum score of 88 on the Skills Immigration Record System (SIRS).
The remaining three draws were also occupation-specific, each requiring a minimum SIRS score of 60. The province invited:
- 39 early childhood educators and assistants
- 16 health professionals
- Fewer than five other priority occupation candidates
Prince Edward Island
On July 20, PEI invited 106 candidates in the first PEI PNP draw of the month. The invitations were divided into two categories.
The first was for candidates in the Labor stream and Express Entry. The province invited 97 candidates under the Critical Worker Stream who work for a PEI employer and have a minimum EOI score of 50.
The province also invited nine candidates under the Entrepreneur with Business Work Permit stream who met the minimum point threshold of 80.
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