Provincial immigration in Canada: 2025 year in review

2025 marked a landmark year for provincial immigration in Canada, which continues to impact how immigration will flow throughout the coming year.

From slingshot provincial nomination allocations, new systems to assess candidates, and the seemingly ever-present closure and replacement of different provincial pathways, Canada’s federal and provincial immigration authorities overhauled multiple aspects of regional immigration last year.

This article will cover how changes to provincial immigration quotas changed regional immigration in Canada in 2025 —and how these changes will impact provincial immigration candidates in 2026.

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Drastic reductions in provincial immigration landing numbers

Gains and reductions in overall Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) landings targets continue to impact provincial immigration candidates today, playing a key role in determining how provinces assess candidates and accept new applicants—and how many newcomers they can receive.

In the federal 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan (announced in October of 2024), Ottawa cut its PNP admissions (landings) target for 2025 to 55,000.

In 2024, the PNP target was 110,000 – making actual 2025 PNP levels a reduction of 50% from projections just a year ago.

The landing targets determine the overall number of new permanent residents who will be welcomed through each immigration pathway. By cutting overall PNP admissions by 50% of what they had been in 2024, IRCC effectively sent a message to the provinces that they would have to cut down on the intake of newcomers.

In the prior 2024–2026 plan, the 2025 PNP target was 120,000—a reduction of 65,000 planned landings (about 54%) from the number of new permanent residents that provinces could welcome.

The significant decrease compared to previous projections can be seen in the table below:

Levels Plan	Overall PR admissions target (2025)	PNP admissions target (2025)
2024–2026 plan	500,000	120,000
2025–2027 plan	395,000	55,000

Those lower landings targets flowed into lower nomination allocations (the number of nomination certificates Ottawa authorizes provinces/territories to issue in a year).

By early 2025, most jurisdictions publicly reported 50% cuts versus 2024 allocation levels.

Initial 2025 allocations, by province/territory:

Province/Territory	Initial 2025 allocation
Alberta	4,875
British Columbia	4,000
Manitoba	4,750
New Brunswick	2,750*
Newfoundland and Labrador	1,525*
Northwest Territories	150
Nova Scotia	3,150*
Ontario	10,750
Prince Edward Island	1,025*
Saskatchewan	3,625
Yukon	215

*For Atlantic provinces, public reporting commonly bundled PNP nominations plus Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) endorsements.

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Provinces respond to lower allocations in unique ways

As a result of these reductions, provinces instituted a number of changes to their immigration streams and candidate assessments, which new immigration candidates must continue to contend with in 2026.

While provinces all responded differently, major themes emerged in their reorientations, including:

Closures of previously operational streams;
Consolidations and/or overhauls in eligibility criteria of streams, with an emphasis on candidates who met labour market priorities; and
The implementation of Expression of Interest (EOI) systems to assess candidates, among provinces that had not already implemented such a system.

The following sections give a brief overview of changes implemented by each province and territory in the face of newly reduced allocations.

Alberta

Shift to tighter selection within existing pathways: Alberta has published program updates indicating that it has discontinued some selection approaches (for example, ending certain Alberta Express Entry selection factors, such as “family connection” and “occupation in demand”), signaling a move toward more controlled targeting under constrained capacity.
Greater emphasis on certain pathways: The AAIP greatly invested its ITAs in both its Alberta Express Entry streams and sub-pathways and the Alberta Opportunity Stream, with significantly fewer invitations going to candidates in other pathways.
Ending participation in the public policy to facilitate work permits for some PNP candidates: Alberta also ended its participation in the policy to facilitate open work permits for some candidates of its PNP, citing its limited allocation as a primary reason.

British Columbia

Pause on general immigration: BC stated its 2025 nomination allocation was cut by 50% (to 4,000), and responded by pausing/limiting invitations except for high-impact candidates.
Student-related streams throttled: BC indicated it would pause the launch of its international graduate streams and further waitlist applicants who had applied through existing streams in a bid to best utilise its limited allocation.
Targeting tightened: BC also flagged narrower eligibility/priority around specific groups (for example, Health Authority job-offer applicants), reflecting “fewer invites, more selectivity.”

Manitoba

Emphasis on Skilled Worker streams: The MPNP distributed the majority of its invitations to candidates in its Skilled Worker Overseas and Skilled Worker in Manitoba streams. In particular, the province emphasized candidates who had been invited via a strategic recruitment initiative.
Federal OWP support letter policy: Manitoba was explicitly one of the two participating jurisdictions in IRCC’s optional PNP open work permit pathway.

New Brunswick

“Controlled reopening” after system-wide adjustments: At the beginning of the year, NB said it was adjusting 2025 pathways due to broader immigration-system changes and would reopen pathways in a controlled manner starting Feb 5, 2025.
EOI management and pauses where inventory was full: NB posted early in 2025, the Strategic Initiative stream had sufficient inventory for 2025 and would not accept new EOIs, and an exploratory visit connection was not returning for 2025
More visible occupational/sector targeting in invitations: NB’ moved towards explicitly selecting priority categories (e.g., health care; education/social services; construction trades) and instituted limits to applications processed in 2025, underscoring capacity constraints.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Moved to an EOI-led model to manage intake under pressure: Newfoundland and Labrador publicly shifted toward an Expression of Interest model in 2025 (to control volumes and invite only what can be processed).
- In April, the province issued its first round of invitations for individuals who had submitted an EOI.

Nova Scotia

Priority occupations: In July, Nova Scotia’s PNP announced that it would be prioritizing applications from those already living and working in Canada with work visas expiring in 2025. Out of these applicants, further priority was given to skilled workers in sectors like healthcare and construction.
Formalized an EOI process province-wide: In November, Nova Scotia announced that it would launch an EOI model to its intake, reflecting the growing need for controlled selection.

Ontario

Extended pause in ITA issuances: The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) did not hold its first draw for economic immigrants until June of 2025, marking more than six months of inactivity.
- Prioritizing candidates with a job offer: The OINP did not issue a single ITA through its graduate streams, instead focusing all of its ITAs in 2025 on the three Employer: Job offer streams.
Suspension of Skilled Trades Stream: In November, the OINP suspended its Express Entry-aligned Skilled Trades stream, citing systemic misrepresentation.
Proposed overhaul of provincial pathways: The Ontario government has also proposed a two-phased approach to consolidate its Employer Job Offer streams into a single stream, eliminate all other streams, and introduce new streams

Saskatchewan

Stream closures: Saskatchewan confirmed permanent closures of some business-related categories, including its:
- Entrepreneur category;
- International Graduate Entrepreneur category; and
- Farm Owner / Operator Category.
Pause in Job Approval Forms (JAF): The SINP did not issue new JAFs until March 27, 2025, in a bid to slow the intake of new applicants
Priority sectors and sector caps: The SINP also instituted new priority sectors and caps on candidates in certain occupations.

Yukon

Allocation cut and new intake method: Yukon’s 2025 operational guidance states the territory’s nomination allocation was reduced by 50%, down to 215 nominations. As a result, Yukon instituted an EOI intake system (inviting from a pool rather than accepting unlimited applications).
Federal support-letter OWP policy linked directly to Yukon: Yukon was the other participating jurisdiction (with Manitoba) in IRCC’s prospective-PNP open work permit policy

Northwest Territories

New intake system: NWT instituted a new intake system in which the territory opened three different application windows for interested candidates to apply.
- Stream triage: In October, NWT noted the cap was reached for employer-driven and francophone streams, while it continued accepting business stream applications.

Quebec*

A muted start to the year: 2025 began with a government-imposed moratorium (until June 30, 2025) affecting major permanent programs—most notably the regular skilled worker pathway and the PEQ graduate route—signalling a reset in Quebec’s intake and selection approach.
Skilled worker selection rebooted under the PSTQ: Quebec reactivated the PSTQ in July 2025, bringing a more structured points-and-invitation model through Arrima declarations of interest, split into four streams, with French proficiency elevated as a central selection requirement and early invitations oriented toward candidates already in Quebec.
End of the PEQ as a permanent pathway: The Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) ended on November 19, 2025, removing a major route for many temporary workers and Quebec graduates to gain permanent residency in the province.
Family sponsorship tightened by hard caps: By July 9, 2025, Quebec stopped accepting new undertakings for spouses/partners and dependent children aged 18+ because that portion of the cap had been reached. Soon after, the province also hit its cap on undertaking applications for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents.

*Note that Quebec does not have its own PNP—rather, the province runs its own immigration programs as a result of long-standing deals with Canada's federal government, allowing it to exert greater control over the newcomers it welcomes. Unlike most other Canadian provinces, Quebec is actively seeking to lower immigration rates as the province deals with greater affordability and housing market pressures.

Ottawa backtracks later in 2025—many provinces see added nomination spots

In the face of continued pressure and lobbying from provincial immigration authorities, in the second half of 2025, Ottawa began granting additional allocations to many jurisdictions.

By late October 2025, most provinces/territories had received some increase, with Ontario as the notable exception.

These final additions would mark the starting point upon which IRCC would build its allocations for the next year.

While nomination allocations do not carry over to the next year, these last-minute increases helped the federal government determine how many permanent residents would be welcomed by provinces in 2026.

Two important mechanics repeatedly came up in provincial reporting:

Some provinces said Ottawa added a requirement that 75% of nominees be already in Canada.
At least in some cases, increases were tied to broader negotiations—for example, in the case of Newfoundland and Labrador, additional economic allocations were linked to provinces agreeing to take more asylum claimants or humanitarian immigrants.

Provinces/territories that benefited from increased allocations

Below is a consolidated view using publicly posted updates and contemporaneous reporting—BC also received a second increase in December, bringing its 2025 total higher than the October snapshot.

Province/Territory	Initial 2025	Later 2025 (after increases)	Net change
Alberta	4,875	6,403	+1,528
British Columbia	4,000	6,214	+2,214
Manitoba	4,750	6,239	+1,489
New Brunswick	2,750	4,250	+1,500
Newfoundland and Labrador	1,525	2,525	+1,000
Northwest Territories	150	300	+150
Nova Scotia	3,150	3,709	+559
Ontario	10,750	10,750	+0
Prince Edward Island	1,025	1,600	+575
Saskatchewan	3,625	4,761	+1,136
Yukon	215	282	+67

2026 outlook: Ottawa boosts PNP landings, giving provinces more room to nominate

In the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan (released in November 2025), Ottawa raised the national admissions target for the PNP to 91,500 in 2026 (range 82,000–105,000), a 66% increase from the 55,000 PNP target used in the 2025–2027 plan.

IRCC framed this increase as a way to better meet regional labour market needs and support “nation-building” priorities, while keeping overall permanent resident admissions stable at 380,000 per year.

For provinces and territories moving into 2026, this higher federal PNP landings target typically translates into larger nomination room, which can materially change how provincial immigration programs operate: more invitations from EOI pools, higher capacity to reopen or expand previously constrained streams, and more predictable planning for employers—especially because the plan also emphasizes transitioning people already in Canada into permanent residence.

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