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

Over the past month, Canada's Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) maintained a steady pace in issuing invitations to apply for provincial nomination.

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.

The PNP program is a primary route to permanent residence in Canada. These programs alone are expected to result in over 80,000 immigrants per year becoming permanent residents between now and 2023.

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How do Provincial Nominee Programs work?

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.

June 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.

During the month of June, IRCC broke records by conducting two of its largest-ever Express Entry draws targeting Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates, issuing 1,002 ITAs on June 23 and another 940 on June 9. IRCC has now issued 88,715 ITAs this year, including 12 PNP draws which issued a total of 6,062 ITAs.

Ontario

The province held a total of three draws this month through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). The first draw took place on June 1 with the province inviting 986 candidates under the Ontario’s Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream. Subsequently, the province invited 940 candidates on June 16 in draws through the Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker and Employer job offer: International Student stream. Finally, on June 23, 2021, the province also invited 583 candidates with work experience in 10 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 has been regularly issuing invitations to immigration candidates since the beginning of 2021. Once again this month, the province held two draws and invited a total of 375 candidates. The first draw was held on June 5 and the second one on June 22.

During several months of the pandemic, the province was only inviting candidates who were already in the province to apply for provincial nominations. A spokesperson for the Alberta government confirmed to CIC News this past month that the AINP has now removed the temporary criteria adjustments made to the Alberta Express Entry Stream in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s International Skilled Worker Category also had a busy month.

In June, the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) held only one invitation round through the Express Entry and Occupations In-Demand sub-categories issuing a total of 255 invitations to apply for a provincial nomination. This is significantly less than the 528 invitations issued last month by the province.

Manitoba

June was a busy month for the province as it issued over 687 invitations to immigration candidates under the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. The province held three draws through the following three streams: Skilled Workers in Manitoba, International Education Stream, and Skilled Workers Overseas. Of the total number of nominations, a significant number, 427, went to Express Entry candidates.

British Columbia

Over the past month, the province has invited over 917 candidates to apply for the provincial nomination through the Express Entry British Columbia, Skills Immigration, and Entrepreneur streams, closely matching the number of invitations issued last month.

The province also released its 2020 BC PNP Statistical Report.

The report shows that the province nominated 6,251 Skills immigration candidates for Canadian permanent residence in 2020. The province had an allocation of 6,750 from the federal government. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the number of nominations issued this year.

The Skilled Worker category accounted for 57 per cent of all nominations and 35 per cent were under International Graduate and International Post-Graduate
categories.

According to the report, Tech Pilot nominees accounted for 29.7 per cent or 1,855, of all Skills Immigration nominees. Tech occupations also accounted for the majority of nominee occupations in 2020.

A total of 117 nominations were filed through the Entrepreneur Immigration Stream.

Citizens of India and China led immigration candidates nominated for permanent residence by the province through its Skills Immigration Stream in 2020. Other than India and China, the top source countries for Skills Immigration Stream nominees were Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Iran.

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island held a draw on June 17 and issued a combined 113 invitations to immigration candidates. Most of the invitations, 101, were issued to Express Entry and Labour Impact candidates. The remaining 12 invitations went to Business Impact candidates who had a minimum point threshold of 60. The Atlantic province typically holds one pre-scheduled draw every month.

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