Canadian provinces held more than 10 draws last month.

Together, all invitation rounds resulted in close to 3,000  invitations to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence across the country.

There are two types of provincial nomination streams:

• Enhanced nomination streams, which are linked to Express Entry
• Base nomination streams, which are not linked with Express Entry

All nine provinces and two territories that take part in the PNP have enhanced nomination streams which are linked to the Express Entry system.

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These streams allow provinces to nominate candidates in the federal Express Entry system, which manages the pool of candidates for three of Canada’s main economic immigration categories—the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class.

Canada’s Provincial Nominee Program allows participating provinces and territories to nominate a set number of economic immigration candidates each year for permanent residence.

Candidates who are selected through enhanced nomination streams are invited to apply for a provincial nomination. If they are successful, they receive an additional 600 points towards their Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS)  score and are effectively guaranteed an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Last week, Canada released its Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023 which targets the highest level of immigration in its history. Canada’s PNPs are also set to continue the growth they’ve experienced in recent years.

The admission target for Canada’s PNP has been set in the plan at 80,800 for 2021, and this number is expected to increase annually.

For 2022 and 2023, IRCC is planning to raise the number of PNP admissions to 81,500 and 83,000, respectively.

Each year, well over 100 invitation rounds are held throughout the country, often resulting in more than 10 invitation rounds per month.   The month of October proved to be no exception to the rule. Here is an overview of the most recent provincial program updates and rounds of invitation:

Alberta

Alberta announced it is launching a new expression of interest portal and a new immigration pathway for recent international student graduates from Alberta post-secondary institutions.

British Columbia

British Columbia issued over 900 new invitations to apply for a provincial nomination through six different draws that took place between October 6 and 27.

Two draws were held under the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP)’s Tech Pilot, which is meant to support the province’s technology sector in its efforts to recruit talent.

Two other draws issued invitations to skilled, entry-level and semi-skilled workers as well as international graduates through its Skills Immigration and Express Entry BC streams.

The province also held two draws through its Entrepreneur Immigration streams inviting a total of 20 candidates on October 20.

Manitoba

The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) held two Expression of Interest draws in October. A total of 397 invitations were issued to candidates in the Skilled Workers in Manitoba, Skilled Workers Overseas and International Education streams on October 8 and October 22.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia also held a PNP draw on October 22 and invited candidates with profiles in the Express Entry pool and with a primary occupation as computer programmers or interactive media developers.

Ontario

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has also been active in October, issuing invitations to entrepreneurs and those with work experience in one of six tech occupations.

The OINP Tech draw was held on October 15 and invited Express Entry candidates with CRS scores between 462 and 470, while 21 entrepreneurial candidates were invited on October 21.

Ontario also opened its Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker stream and accepted 1,250 applications on October 21.

Prince Edward Island

The Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP) draw on October 15 and invited 211 Express Entry, Labour Impact and Business candidates.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan held three invitation rounds through its Immigrant Nominee Program and issued 1,073 invitations to immigration candidates on October 7 and 21.

Quebec

The province of Quebec does not have a provincial nominee program; instead, it has its own immigration pathways for those who want to live and work in the province.

In early October, the province announced the results of a selection round that invited 365 candidates who submitted an expression of interest via the Arrima portal, which manages applications to the Quebec Skilled Worker Program.

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