This week four Canadian provinces held PNP draws, inviting applicants to apply for permanent residence & immigrate to their province. Read this blog to obtain complete details. 

Ontario 

This week Ontario held PNP draws under its French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream, thus issuing 95 NOIs, i.e., Notification of Interest. The Ontario PNP is equivalent to ITAs for applicants with a CRS score of 371-324. 

British Columbia 

On July 25, the province held two PNP draws across six streams of BC PNP. 

Applicants must note that Express Entry British Columbia Options Stream refers to Express Entry aligned streams. These are also known as enhanced nominations & enable applicants in the federal Express Entry pool to be nominated by the province in order to immigrate there. 

However, the initial draw saw 175 ITAs offered in a general draw between the below-mentioned streams with corresponding CRS cut-off scores: 

  • Skilled Worker Stream – 106 
  • International Graduate Stream – 109 
  • Semi-Skilled & Entry-Level Stream – 87 
  • International Graduate EEBC Option Stream – 109
  • Skilled Worker EEBC Option Stream – 106

The second draw was exclusive to the Skilled Worker International Graduate Stream, targeting the following professions: 

  • Healthcare: Workers with a minimum CRS score of 60 obtained 30 ITAs. 
  • Childcare: Early childhood assistants, as well as educators who had the lowest CRS score of 60 points, received 30 ITAs. 
  • Other priority professions, like Animal Health technologists, Veterinary technicians, etc., with a minimum score of 60, obtained at least four ITAs in the recent draw. 

Manitoba 

Manitoba held three different PNP draws across various streams on July 28. These draws were for the following: 

  • Skilled Worker in Manitoba Stream – issued 299 Letters of Advice to Apply (LAAs) to applicants with a minimum CRS score of 633.
  • Skilled Worker Overseas Stream – issued 41 LAAs to unreported minimum CRS score applicants.
  • International Education Stream – issued 15 LAAs to applicants with a minimum CRS score of 726 under a strategic recruitment initiative.

Out of 354 LAAs which were issued, 56 were to applicants who announced a valid Express Entry profile, implying that these are enhanced nominations. 

Quebec 

In addition to PNP draw results, this province also held a draw through its separate provincial nomination program on July 20. This draw invited over 1633 applicants from the Arrima portal that either: 

  • Had level 7 proficiency in the French language 
  • Had a minimum CRS score equal to or greater than 596 points 
  • Have a valid employment offer outside the Montreal Metropolitan Area

Provincial Nominee Program: What Is It 

The PNP began in 1998 as a means to ease Canadian immigration. While traditionally, most immigrants settle in Canada’s largest provinces; the PNP allows provinces to nominate applicants who meet their labor market or demographic needs to be chosen to immigrate to the province they want. 

Each province runs a PNP in Canada, except Quebec & Nunavut. The draws held have been successful in improving Canadian immigration. Moreover, today it is the main pathway for economic immigration that is expected to welcome over 333,000 new Canadians between 2023-25. 

While most PNP streams are specifically dedicated to professionals, there are also PNP streams that target other kinds of competencies and qualifications, like international students who have studied in that particular province with specific language capabilities (French).