An overview of Canada's PNP immigration results for July 2021

In July, Canada's Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) issued over 6,000 invitations to apply for provincial nominations.

Canadian provinces and territories, except Quebec and Nunavut, operate their own Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP). Each province adopts its own criteria for selecting foreign workers eligible for Canadian permanent residence under its respective PNP. Having their own immigration programs allows provincial governments to select individuals who are best suited to meet their local labour market needs.

These programs alone are expected to result in over 80,000 immigrants per year becoming permanent residents between now and 2023.

Most participating provinces and territories have at least one PNP stream that is aligned with the federal Express Entry system, which is Canada’s principal source of economic immigration.

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July 2021 PNP-Focused Express Entry highlights

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been holding PNP-specific Express Entry draws, on average, every two weeks since the beginning of the year.

In July, IRCC conducted two Express Entry draws targeting PNP candidates, issuing 627 ITAs on July 7 and another 462 on July 21. While the number of Express Entry invitations issued this past month was down compared to the month of June, the sizes of draws have reached record highs and cut-off scores have been falling throughout the year. IRCC has now issued almost 100,000 ITAs this year.

Ontario

The province held a total of six draws this month through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

The first draw took place on July 7 with the province issuing 21 invitations to apply under the Entrepreneur Stream. On July 13, the province held major draws inviting 1,685 candidates through the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker and Employer job offer: International Student streams.

Two days later, on July 15, 2021, the province held its first-ever In-Demand Skills stream draw under its new intake system with a total of 55 candidates receiving invitations. Ontario also issued invitations to 115 bilingual Express Entry candidates on July 21.

Lastly, on July 27, Ontario invited 1,031 candidates with work experience in 18 targeted occupations and who may qualify for Ontario’s Express Entry Human Capital Priorities stream.

Alberta

The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP)’s Express Entry Stream issued invitations to immigration candidates in one draw in July. The draw was held on July 14 and invited 181 candidates with CRS scores of 301. This is a slightly slower pace of invitations than in previous months when regular rounds were held approximately every two weeks.

Saskatchewan

In July, the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) held a total of four invitation rounds through the Express Entry and Occupations In-Demand sub-categories of the International Skilled Worker Category issuing a total of 570 invitations to apply for a provincial nomination. This is significantly more than the 255 invitations issued last month by the province.

Manitoba

July was a very busy month for the province as it issued 1,417 invitations to immigration candidates under the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. The province held two draws through the following three streams: Skilled Workers in Manitoba, International Education Stream, and Skilled Workers Overseas.

In a record-breaking draw on July 27, the province invited 1,140 Express Entry candidates to apply for a provincial nomination. This major round brought the total number of nominations awarded to Express Entry candidates last month to 1,188.

British Columbia

Over the past month, the province has invited a total of 885 candidates to apply for a provincial nomination through the Express Entry British Columbia, Skills Immigration streams closely matching the number of invitations issued over the past months.

On July 19, B.C. also announced it was temporarily pausing the intake of new registrations under the Entrepreneur Immigration (EI) stream. However, the temporary pause only affects registration under the Base category. The EI – Regional Pilot, Strategic Projects, and all Skills immigration categories are still open.

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island held its pre-scheduled draw on July 15 and issued a combined 127 invitations to immigration candidates. Most of the invitations, 118, were issued to Express Entry and Labour Impact candidates. The remaining nine invitations went to Business Impact candidates who had a minimum point threshold of 60.

What are PNPs?

PNPs allow Canadian provinces and territories to nominate individuals for permanent immigration.

There are two types of PNPs: base and enhanced.

Base nomination streams work outside of the Express Entry system, as they are managed by the provinces themselves. These types of nominations are subject to particular PNP streams and processing standards. In order to go from a successful base nomination to permanent residency, candidates will generally have to go through a two-step process. First, candidates determine that they meet the criteria for a PNP pathway, apply, and if successful, receive a nomination certificate. Once they have this certificate, they will be can apply for permanent resident status with the federal government.

Enhanced nomination streams, on the other hand, are linked with the Express Entry system. They allow provincial immigration officials to search the Express Entry pool of candidates for principal applicants who match specific criteria. The provinces then invite these candidates to apply for a provincial nomination.

The Express Entry system manages the pool of candidates for Canada’s three main federal-level economic immigration programs — the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class.

If candidates get a provincial nomination through enhanced provincial streams, they are awarded an additional 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points. This practically guarantees that they will receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residence in a subsequent Express Entry draw.