Why skilled workers and international graduates in Quebec should consider other provincial pathways

Temporary residents currently living in the province of Quebec may wish to consider Canadian provincial pathways to permanent residence, given the recent pause in the Regular Skilled Worker Program and PEQ–Diplome streams.

In addition to federal immigration options, these individuals may also benefit from considering Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) from other provinces and territories in Canada.

There are no guarantees in Canadian economic immigration, but obtaining a provincial nomination is a reliable route for being able to apply for permanent residence (PR) to the Canadian federal government.

If you have a desire to reside in a province or territory other than Quebec, it’s worth considering PNP streams for the regions you’d like to live in.

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For example, you could take the following steps:

Decide which province/territory you’d like to live in.
Determine which PNP stream(s) you are eligible for.
Follow the consideration process(es) for your chosen stream(s).
If successful, apply for provincial nomination.
If successful, receive provincial nomination.
After receiving provincial nomination, wait to receive an invitation to apply (ITA).
Apply to the Canadian federal government for permanent residence (PR).

Why consider provincial nominee programs?

PNPs provide a route to permanent residence for candidates who might not otherwise be able to receive an invitation to apply:

Candidates with low Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) scores who don’t qualify for category-based draws; and
Candidates who don’t qualify for an Express Entry program (for example, due to a National Occupation Classification (NOC) Training Education Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) 4 or 5 occupation).

For these sorts of candidates, PNPs generally provide the best shot for obtaining Canadian PR through an economic immigration pathway.

How do I choose a PNP stream?

There are over 60 PNP streams. Start by deciding on which provinces and/or territories you’d like to settle in, then look at which streams for that province or territory you qualify for.

All PNPs require that you demonstrate an intent to reside in the province or territory which nominates you.

What factors determine eligibility for PNP streams?

The majority of PNP streams often target immigration candidates with specific ties to the province or territory in question (though many still are open to candidates from other provinces). Some examples of these ties could be:

Type of tie	Sample questions to assess tie
Residence	Does the candidate have, or has the candidate previously had a residence in the province or territory in question?
Family members	Does the candidate have family members who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are in the province? How are those family members settled in the province?
Education	Has the candidate previously completed education at a post-secondary institution in the province? What level of education?
Job offer / arranged employment	Does the candidate have a job offer, or are they currently employed in the province? What is their current position (and NOC code)? What is their current compensation?
Work experience	Has the candidate completed eligible full-time work (or equivalent part-time work) in the province? How long have they been working there?
Professional licensing	Certain professions in Canada require professional licensing, either at the provincial or the federal level, to legally be practiced. Does the candidate have the relevant provincial and/or federal licensing to practice their profession in the province? If so, how long have they held this license? What work has already been done by the candidate in this capacity?
Time spent living in the province	Has the candidate lived in the province prior to applying through an immigration stream? How long have they lived here for? What activities have they undertaken while living in the province?
Employer support (if needed)	Some PNP streams (for example ones for candidates with a job offer in the province), may require candidates to receive support from their employer. This can range from letters of support and confirming employment, to application fees that an employer must pay.

In addition to ties to the province, PNP programs may also assess immigration candidates based on a range of human capital and other factors, including, but not limited to:

Age;
Work experience (Canadian and foreign);
Education (Canadian and foreign);
Settlement funds;
Income;
Language proficiency (English and/or French); and
Job offer (and corresponding NOC code).

Some PNPs rank applicants using their own unique scoring criteria, and either require a minimum score to qualify, and/or will extend invitations to candidates based on their scores.

More in-depth explanations on provincial and territorial employment standards can be found here.

Discover Canada's PNPs

Links to our dedicated webpages on each PNP can be found below:

Which type of PNP stream is best?

There are two types of PNP streams:

Base PNP streams; and
Enhanced PNP streams.

PNP stream type	Description	Best for	Historical processing time (after responding to an ITA)
Base	Does not integrate with Express Entry	Candidates who don’t qualify for Express Entry	12 months
Enhanced	Integrates with Express Entry	Candidates who qualify for Express Entry	6 months

For base PNP streams, if you are successful in receiving a provincial nomination, you can expect IRCC to extend to you an invitation to apply, upon which you’d apply to the federal government for permanent residency.

For enhanced PNP streams, if you are successful in receiving a provincial nomination, you’ll score the maximum of 600 additional CRS points in your express entry profile, greatly boosting your ranking in the candidate pool. You would then be extremely likely to receive an ITA through Express Entry the next time IRCC conducts a draw for which you’re eligible.

Assess your eligibility for enhanced PNP programs

As shown in the above table, if you qualify for an enhanced PNP stream, you would generally prefer to take the enhanced route, as you’d be likely to benefit from a faster processing time after responding to your ITA with a complete application for PR to IRCC.

There are a number of reasons why an enhanced route might not be available to you:

The particular PNP stream may not have an enhanced option;
You might not qualify for Express Entry, on account of one or more of the following:
- You have a NOC TEER 4 or 5 occupation;
- You lack the one year of Canadian skilled work experience necessary to qualify for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC);
- You lack the settlement funds, or the work authorization plus valid job offer, needed to qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) or the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

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How do I get considered for PNPs?

The consideration process will vary depending on the stream. Just like eligibility requirements, applications to PNP streams can take on different forms. The consideration process for PNP streams can be either passive or active.

Active consideration process

Streams with an active consideration process require that you take some positive action in order to be considered—for example, many active PNP streams require that you create an online profile on the PNP’s website and submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) and/or email the PNP.

The province would then review your EOI, and, if you’re successful, would request that you submit a full application to the PNP.

Passive consideration process

Some enhanced PNP streams involve a passive consideration process. For these streams, so long as you have an up-to-date Express Entry profile, the province will consider you for nomination on the basis of the information in your profile.

If you’re eligible for a passive PNP stream, you might receive an invitation from the PNP through the Express Entry system, or an email. You would then have a certain time period to respond to the PNP’s invitation.

How long does it take to process PR applications through PNPs?

Obtaining permanent residency through a PNP program requires three steps:

Obtain provincial nomination.
Receive ITA from IRCC.
Apply to IRCC for PR.

The time from start to finish will be the sum of:

How long it takes for you to receive the provincial nomination;
How long it takes for Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to extend to you the ITA;
How long it takes for you to respond to the ITA;
How long it takes IRCC to process your PR application.

Naturally, obtaining PR through a PNP will take longer on account of the time required for the province to consider your candidacy and to issue you a nomination.

Processing times vary and are unpredictable, but as a rough guideline, it’s not unreasonable to expect several months to a year to receive your provincial nomination, followed by several months to a year (or longer) for IRCC to process your PR application.

You might expect the entire process from start to finish to take 12-30 months.

Applicants in these programs can refer to processing times and standards on both the IRCC main website, and the relevant provincial immigration website to get a better idea of wait times.

A note on intent to reside

To be eligible for any PNP stream, you must demonstrate an intent to reside in that province or territory.

If you are successful in receiving PR through a provincial nomination, you’ll be expected to settle in the province or territory that nominated you.

Why do PNPs exist?

Each province in Canada (with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut) runs its own provincial immigration streams, under which they can nominate candidates for permanent residency.

Immigration is under the authority of the Canadian federal government, but the federal government has provided the provinces the opportunity to create PNP programs so provinces can use immigration to further their economic, labour market, and cultural goals.

The PNP program does not allow provinces and territories to grant permanent residency. Rather, they extend nominations to candidates, upon which IRCC extends to those candidates invitations to apply for PR. IRCC makes the final decision on all PR applications.

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