Saskatchewan announced recently that it would expand eligibility of workers in the province to apply for permanent residence (PR), through the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), Saskatchewan’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
As of this announcement, workers in intermediate and lower-skilled occupations with jobs within the province, through the Existing Work Permit stream of the SINP—provided that the meet the basic eligibility criteria for both the stream and the SINP as a whole.
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The expansion of eligible occupations for PR means the permit holders from over 279 different occupations are newly eligible to stay permanently in Saskatchewan—including truck drivers, farm labourers, retail sales staff, nurses’ aides and many more. Previously only newcomers in high-skilled (TEER 0,1,2, or 3) and designated trades were eligible to apply for PR through the stream.
Note: Training, Education, Experience, and Responsibilities (TEER) categories are the Canadian governments system of cataloguing jobs in Canada based on these four components of each profession. These levels range from 0 (managerial roles, the most skilled) to 5 (jobs with no formal education requirements, the least skilled).
To apply under the new expanded stream, applicants will need to meet both stream-specific and general SINP eligibility; including having:
- An eligible open work permit/Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) supported work permit, a francophone mobility work permit, or a Canadian Ukrainian Authorisation for Emergency Travel (CUAET) visa;
- A valid SINP job approval letter;
- Six months (780 hours) of full-time work experience in the same job provided in the job approval letter;
- Have a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score of at least 4, if your job is in a TEER 4 or 5 occupation; and
- An eligible Saskatchewan licensure if your occupation is regulated in Saskatchewan.
Who is not eligible under these changes?
While the Existing Work Permit stream has seen an expansion in eligibility, it is important to note that the following individuals are still not eligible to immigrate to Saskatchewan under this immigration stream:
- Food and beverage servers (asked instead to apply under the Hospitality Sector Pilot Project, or the Hard-to-Fill Skills Pilot);
- Truck drivers (asked instead to apply under the Long Haul Truck Driver Project, or the Hard-to-Fill Skills Pilot);
- Health professionals (asked instead to apply to the SINP Health Professional Sub-category);
- Graduates currently working with a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) (asked instead to apply under the Saskatchewan Experience – Student Sub-category, or the International Skilled Worker – Employment Offer Sub-category); and
- Refugee claimants claiming refugee status in Canada.
Saskatchewan needs immigrants
The provincial government of Saskatchewan have bargained with the federal government to increase their provincial allocation of immigration nominees for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
This comes in recognition of some of the largest job vacancies seen in any province in Canada. Saskatchewan currently has over 16,000 job vacancies posted on multiple online job boards, with more than 112,000 job vacancies forecasted over the next five years.
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