Ontario, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island have invited candidates in the most recent rounds of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
The PNP was established because immigration is a shared responsibility between the provincial and federal governments. This allows provincial governments to exercise greater control over the selection of economic immigrants to settle within the designated province.
Provincial governments select skilled candidates who are most likely to fill gaps in the local labor force and therefore integrate more easily into the local economy. Put another way, provinces nominate candidates who are most likely to live in the province and be successful.
A candidate who is nominated by a province has a higher chance of receiving an Invitation to Apply for Permanent Residence (ITA). In addition, enrolled Express Entry candidates receive an additional 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points, which virtually guarantees an ITA in the upcoming draw.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) allocates available PNP enrollments to each province based on goals in the latest Immigration Level Plan, an annual plan that outlines targets for permanent resident admissions over the coming three years.
More recently, provinces have been seeking greater autonomy over economic immigration and have indicated they want individual agreements with the federal government, like Quebec. Quebec has full jurisdiction over the selection of economic immigrants as set forth in the Canada-Quebec Agreement. It is the only province in Canada to have such an agreement.
Although no such agreement has yet been reached, in March this year, the Forum of Ministers responsible for immigration met and ratified a new IRCC initiative, a provincial immigration-level plan that outlines provincial enrollment allocations for the coming three years, most of which are higher than before.
This will give provinces a stronger ability to plan for more newcomers and ensure that enough jobs, housing and other critical infrastructure are in place to support newcomers and make the province an attractive destination.
Provincial Immigration Results July 15-21
Ontario
Ontario held two draws on July 20 for candidates in the targeted occupations under the Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream.
The province invited 902 candidates in a draw for candidates in technical occupations and 159 in a draw for health care professionals. All the candidates were required to have a CRS score in the range of 458-462.
These provincial results are similar to the recently introduced category-based selection round of Express Entry invitations. So far this summer, more than 2,000 health care professionals and 500 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) candidates have received an ITA in the federal Express Entry draw.
British Columbia
British Columbia held its normal Tuesday PNP draw on July 18.
This week, the province invited more than 167 candidates to four draws. All candidates were participants in the Skilled Worker or International Graduate stream and included Express Entry candidates.
The largest draw targeted 112 candidates with technical occupations. They needed a minimum Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS) score of 88.
The remaining three draws were also occupation-specific, and each required a minimum SIRS score of 60. The province invited:
- 39 Early Childhood Educators and Aides
- 16 health care professionals
- Candidates with less than five other preferred occupations
Prince Edward Island
On July 20, PEI invited 106 candidates to the first PEI PNP draw of the month. The invitations were divided into two categories.
The first was for Labor and Express Entry stream candidates. The province invites 97 candidates under the Critical Worker stream who are working for a PEI employer and have a minimum EOI score of 50.
The province also invited nine candidates under the Business Work Permit Entrepreneur stream who met the minimum score threshold of 80.
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