Provincial Programs

Provincial Nominee Programs allow Canadian provinces and territories to nominate PR candidates who wish to immigrate to Canada and those who are interested in settling in a particular Canadian province. 

Generally speaking, these Provincial Nominee Programs create additional PR pathways for those candidates who:

1. Have the particular skills, education and work experience to contribute to the economy of a specific province. Usually, a province determines the targeted professional groups and determines application requirements. These requirements differ from province to province;
2. Want to live and settle in the specific province;
3. Have the intention of obtaining their permanent resident status in Canada.

Most importantly, these Provincial Nominee Programs allow us to determine a better PR Pathway for our clients, who do not qualify under the Federal Express Entry system, for those clients, who do not have a chance to obtain a required for the ITA issuance CRS score, capped by their age, inability to obtain an advanced level of English or French proficiency.

Every province and territory has its own immigration programs that target a certain group of candidates. Moreover, these programs are exclusively designed to meet the economic and social development goals of a province or a territory. Therefore, such programs have their own requirements to qualify. In general, practically all provincial nominee programs target the following groups: 

1. Semi-skilled workers
2. Skilled workers
3. Students 
4. Business people 

It is important to note that since the Express Entry system launch, most provinces and territories have adjusted their existing programs or even created new streams, that allows them to issue their nominations to EE candidates. These nominations grant Express Entry candidates an additional 600 CRS points.

PROVINCIAL NOMINEE APPLICATION PROCESS

Express Entry-based PNP Application Process

A candidate who is targeting any of the available EE-based provincial nominations should ensure that the eligibility requirements are met. It is important to note that some applications are strictly Express Entry based, whereas some are a mixture of Express Entry based and paper-based. However, in both cases, it is important to meet the eligibility requirements for the province or territory and to have a valid Express Entry profile that will prove that you meet the minimum criteria for Express Entry. This includes being eligible for one of the immigration programs it covers. These nominations will give eligible Express Entry applicants an additional 600 points to their CRS Score.

 An application process is described below:

1. A candidate should have a valid Express Entry profile, which meets the eligibility requirements of one of the EE system programs. Also, this EE profile should confirm the interest of the candidate to participate in the PNP draws, conducted by any of the participating provinces or territories.
2. A candidate will first need to ensure you meet the eligibility requirements of the province and territory and that you have a valid Express Entry profile. 
3. Those candidates who meet the PNP requirements will receive a Letter/Notification of Interest, which prompts to a separate PNP application process. The receipt of the interest does not guarantee the nomination approval. A candidate should fulfil all the requirements of the program in question and confirm the eligibility with the provided evidence.
4. When nominated, the province will offer it through your Express Entry profile account, and you accept it electronically. 
5. The EE profile will be updated accordingly by an additional 600 CRS points to the current score of the candidate.
6. The EE candidate’s profile will participate in the next EE draw, and if qualify will lead to a successful Invitation to Apply receipt.
7. The ITA sets the deadline in the amount of 60 calendar days for an EE candidate to complete the ePR application and submission.

Paper-based Application Process

Generally speaking, most provincial nomination applications require paper-based processing. This process requires an applicant to submit a nomination application on paper, which follows by a paper-based PR application once the nomination is obtained.

At the same time, some of the provinces have improved their processing systems and switched to internal electronic processing prototypes. For example, Ontario and British Columbia require candidates to complete and upload all their supporting documents via online portals. Nevertheless, the PR application step, which is submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, still remains to be a paper-based application. 

There are more than 80 provincial immigration streams and below we are providing a list of these programs. Please note that noted below programs are subject to new regulations and updates. Therefore, it is important to contact our office in order to confirm your eligibility.