Canada allows provinces and territories to nominate individuals that wish to live in Canada through Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP). The PNP provides provinces and territories with the benefits of targeted recruiting and selection of foreign nationals who can help meet the specific local labor market and economic needs for immigration to fill a skills shortage or to attract specialized occupational skills. Each province and territory have its own unique program and stream process that is aligned with the federal Express Entry immigration selection system.
Each province has its own demographic composition due to which most of their nomination programs are either occupation-restricted or job offer based. For high-tech and technical jobs, the job offer route may work. Other applicants have to adopt the occupations in demand route.
Application Process
Provincial Nomination is a two-step process:
- Provincial Processing
- Federal Processing
Applicants first submit an Expression of interest (EOI) to the said province where their profile qualifies. Upon receiving an invitation to apply, their full application along with supporting documents is submitted to the provincial immigration department. There is a provincial application fee as well that is paid at this stage.
Upon completion of the eligibility assessment, a nomination certificate is issued to the applicant along with a work permit support letter. Applicants then submit an application for Permanent Resident Visa to the Federal government. Besides they may submit a Work Permit application to come earlier and start working in the province as the federal processing of PR visa could be time-consuming, particularly in the case of Paper applications.
