Northwest Territories Nominee Program to re-open February 27, will aim to meet application intake for 2025
Foreign nationals looking to immigrate to Canada through the Northwest Territories Nominee Program (NTNP) must apply between 9 am MT on February 27 and 5 pm MT on March 6, for the 2025 intake.
The NTNP will process 90 new applications, along with 60 applications submitted in 2024, to meet its overall 2025 nomination allocation of 150.
After intake closes, if the territory has received more applications than it can process, the NTNP will randomly select which applications to process, and will notify applicants by email.
The NTNP will process the selected applications in order work permit expiry dates.
The Northwest Territories (NWT) government has also made changes to its allocations to better “balance the need to be responsive to those with expiring work permits, to recognize those who have committed significant time to their NWT employer, and to support the diverse needs of NWT employers.”
This article will cover:
- New allocations and highlighted eligibility for individual NTNP streams; and
- Further context into provincial immigration in 2025.
Assess your eligibility for enhanced PNP programs
Stream-by-stream allocations under the NTNP
Employer-Driven stream
The NTNP’s Employer-Driven stream allows employers to hire and nominate foreign workers for Canadian permanent residence (PR). As its name suggests, the Employer-Driven stream requires an NWT employer to apply on behalf of an immigration candidate; foreign nationals cannot apply to the stream directly.
The stream contains three categories:
- The Entry Level / Semi-Skilled Occupations category;
- The Skilled Worker category; and
- The NWT Express Entry category.
The following table shows the 2025 allotment for each stream, in addition to eligibility factors highlighted by the NTNP:
| Category | Allocation | Highlighted eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| The Entry Level / Semi-Skilled Occupations | In addition to meeting all other eligibility criteria, applicants must have: - An expiring work permit in 2025; and - Been working full-time in the NWT for at least 12 months before applying. |
|
| Skilled Worker | In addition to meeting all other eligibility criteria, applicants must have: - A full-time and permanent job offer with an NWT employer; - 12 months of work experience in the nominating occupation; and - An expiring work permit in 2025. OR - Been working full-time in the NWT at least 18 months before applying. |
|
| NWT Express Entry |
Unless otherwise specified, work experience for the above eligibility must be gained:
- Immediately prior to applying to the NTNP; and
- With an applicant’s nominating employer, and in the same occupation.
In addition to the above, five applications under the Entry Level / Semi-Skilled Occupations category, and five more applications under the Skilled Worker and NWT Express Entry categories cumulatively will be reserved for NWT employers in communities outside Yellowknife. These applications will use the same eligibility criteria highlighted above.
The above table is not an exhaustive account of the eligibility criteria for these streams. To learn more about immigrating through the Employer-Driven stream, visit the NTNP’s program guidelines and application checklists.
Employer-Driven and Francophone stream
The NTNP will allocate 10 more applications to employers through the Employer-Driven and Francophone streams. These applications will be reserved for Francophone candidates.
Under the NTNP’s 2025 intake, NWT employers will be restricted to the number of applications they can submit based on the number of employees they have:
| Number of employees | Application allocation |
|---|---|
| 1 to 10 NWT employees | 1 application |
| 11 to 49 NWT employees | 2 applications |
| 50+ NWT employees | 4 applications |
The NTNP’s Francophone stream is another employer-led stream that allows NWT businesses to hire foreign nationals and nominate them for permanent residence. The stream requires foreign nationals to be bilingual and have a qualifying job offer from an NWT employer to be eligible. Foreign nationals can be employed in any National Occupation Classification (NOC) Training Education Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) level.
To learn more about immigrating to the NWT through the Francophone stream, visit the NTNP’s dedicated webpage.
Why have these changes been made to the NWT’s application intake?
These changes to the NTNP’s application intake come following a 50% reduction in the territory's immigrant nomination allocation for 2025, a common trend among all of Canada’s provinces and territories this year.
In response to domestic housing and affordability pressures, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced late last year that it would halve PNP landings targets for 2025. As a result, cumulative admissions allocations under Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) fell from 110,000 in 2024, to just 55,000 in 2025.
This change has had major downstream effects on PNPs, with many provinces and territories including New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Yukon altering their application intake processes in response.
The reduction in PNP admissions allocations (and subsequent nomination allocations) also comes in the midst of increased demand for many Canadian immigration streams. In 2024 the NTNP hit its overall immigrant allocation for the year in July—a significant milestone and a first in the program’s history.
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