In March, around 5000 candidates received PNP invitations to apply for provincial nominations, which were equivalent to invitations sent in February.
By creating their own immigration streams under this program, the provinces and territories can better meet labor market needs and achieve their economic development goals.
The Provincial Nominee Program in Canada was initiated in 1998. The government introduced this program to distribute the benefits of immigration equally among the Canadian provinces and boost immigration to Canada’s less populated areas and provinces.
At present, economic immigration to many Canadian provinces and territories occurs through the PNP program. In fact, many smaller provinces in Canada, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and others, rely on PNP to satisfy their labor market and demographic necessities.
By the year 2024, The government is expecting to welcome over 93,000 candidates per year as Permanent residents under the PNP program alone.
PNP Invitations via Express Entry
The Express Entry system, which organizes the CEC, the FSWP, and the FSTP immigration programs, is also linked with at least one PNP stream of Canadian most participating provinces and territories.
The PNP streams that are linked with Express Entry are also called enhanced PNPs. Under this, the candidates with the nomination in the Express Entry are selected by the Province and are invited to apply for PN.
IRCC has halted the FSWP CEC and FSTP invitations under Express Entry to lower the backlog and overcome the delays in processing time, which is presently affecting the Canadian PR candidates.
In recent months, Canada’s immigration minister Sean Fraser expressed at multiple events that the interruption is temporary, and IRCC will resume these invitations in the near term. However, he hasn’t given a date yet.
In addition to this, Noting the PNP’s significance for the provinces and territories, IRCC is confirming to resume the PNP invitations via Express Entry twice monthly.
As per this, IRCC sent 2,145 Invitations in two rounds last month, breaking the record, which was double the previous month of 1,428 invitations.
This rise continued in March, in which about 3000 PNP invitations were sent by IRCC in its three Express Entry draws.
The Alberta Draw
In March, Alberta province invited a total of 700 candidates to its two draws of the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP).
On March 8, Around 350 candidates were invited to apply for a provincial nomination, and on March 24, around 350 candidates were invited under the Express Entry stream of Alberta.
On March 4, Alberta made an additional announcement regarding Ukraine. It states that the government is taking temporary processing measures to assist Ukrainians applying through the AAIP.
This includes Ukrainians who will be given priority processing of applications, their service fees will be waived, and incomplete applications will be accepted sometimes.
The BC Draws
The Province invites high-scoring provincial candidates via BC PNP every week.
The invited candidate has the opportunity to apply in Express Entry BC, Skills Immigration, and the Tech stream.
In March, BC invited more than 900 applicants who may apply for the above-stated programs as well as the Entrepreneur Immigration – Regional Pilot.
Moreover, on March 10, the Province revealed that it is making several changes to the BC PNP skills immigration stream to manage the urgency of medical staff and early childhood teachers.
These changes include a recent priority list of professions and draws, which will be held periodically for specific occupations.
In the Province’s Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category, Medical and dental assistants have been added and will be considered eligible occupations.
In addition to this, the government replaced the two years of the requirement for directly related experience with the skilled experience of two years under the British Columbia skilled worker class.
The Manitoba Draws
The Manitoba government sends invitations to qualified applicants under the Skilled Workers in Manitoba, Skilled Workers Overseas, and International Education Streams.
In March, Manitoba held two draws on March 10 and 24.
The Province sent 311 Letters of Advice, and 76 out of them were sent to candidates having valid Express Entry profiles.
The Manitoba province is also among the ones that declared special immigration measures for the citizens of Ukraine.
As per this, Regular EOI draws are held by Manitoba for Ukraine citizens who satisfy the eligibility criteria of MPNP and who are affected by the Ukraine crisis.
Till now, the Province of Manitoba held two draws on March 10 and 16 and sent out 71 and 16 invitations, respectively.
The Ontario Draw
In March, the Province of Ontario issued around 2430 invitations under Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).
On March 1, the Province held its first draw, and about 1320 candidates were invited from the Foreign Worker, International Student, and In-Demand Skills streams and the Master’s Graduate stream.
After a few days, 21 candidates were invited to the Entrepreneur Stream on March 4.
The Province of Ontario, on March 24, sent invitations to nearly 471 candidates who may qualify for the Express Entry Skilled Trades stream of Ontario.
As of the end of the month, on March 30, 618 candidates got the invitation for Ontario’s PN via Foreign Worker, In-Demand Skills, and Masters Graduate stream.
The PEI Invitations
The Province PEI PNP draws are held monthly. On March 17, about 141 candidates were invited from Labour Impact, and Express Entry streams and the Business Impact stream received 11 invitations.
The Saskatchewan Draw
On March 3, Saskatchewan draws results were released, which were held via its Entrepreneur EOI system. In its draw, 58 invitations were sent to candidates.
With the results, the dates for this year’s future draws under this program were also provided by the Province of Saskatchewan. These were the 5th of May, 7th of July, 1 of September, and 3rd of November.
On March 7, the Province established a new Tech Talent Pathway within the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program to entice tech workers.
The pathway is launched to facilitate the shortage of labor in the tech sector of the Province.
The applicant needs a job offer from Saskatchewan to qualify for this TechTalent Pathway. The job offer could be of any 11 targeted technology occupations.
The Saskatchewan province, on March 8, invited around 85 candidates under SNIP to apply for a PN.
Within which, 39 candidates received invitations under Express Entry, and 43 candidates were from Occupations In Demand.
In addition to this, a separate draw is being held by Saskatchewan in response to the Ukraine crisis for the people who are presently residing in Ukraine.
On March 4, the first special draw was held in which 36 invitations were sent, and the second was on March 8, in which it sent out three invitations.
