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The year 2017 witnessed the number of Canada Provincial Nominee Program (Canada PNP) allocations fast growing and Canada PNP becoming increasingly popular as an easy path to Canada immigration. This is especially true for skilled workers. Canada PNP schemes allow various provinces and territories of the country to nominate immigrants for permanent residence and fast-track the immigration process. In 2017, the federal government aimed to receive 51000 nominations through Canada PNP.
Canada PNP schemes of a number of provinces and territories have at least one of their streams aligned to Express Entry. The PNP of each province or territory is designed in such a way to suit the exclusive nature and demands of their labour market.
Now let’s take a look at how the Canada PNP schemes of various provinces fared in the year 2017.
Ontario
The year 2017 was particularly an active period for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). The Human Capital Priority stream, one of the three Express Entry-aligned streams of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) proved to be much popular. IT workers comprised majority of the OINP nominees in the year 2017. In June 2017, the OINP gave exceptions for candidates with experience in one of the 15 specific IT occupations. The condition that such candidates must score a minimum of 400 CRS points to be selected was taken away.
In May, Ontario introduced a new Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream for skilled trades workers.
British Columbia
The tech pilot program of British Columbia to fast track the immigration of IT/tech workers was launched in August. The program made it possible for candidates in any of the 32 listed eligible occupations to be nominated under British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP). Besides IT/tech workers, BC also invited candidates from a number other categories including graduate workers and entrepreneurs.
Saskatchewan
The International Skilled Worker category of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), aligned to Express Entry, was opened five times last year. The Occupations In-Demand category of SINP was opened three times. The eligible occupations list was expanded by including occupations related to business, agriculture, engineering, IT, healthcare and more.
Manitoba
On November 15, Manitoba announced the restructuring of its Provincial Nominee Program (Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program). The major changes include:
- Creation of an in-demand occupations list
- Creation of a new Express Entry-aligned pathway
- Restructuring of the MPNP-B business immigration stream, Skilled Worker in Manitoba Stream and Skilled Worker Overseas Stream of the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program.
- Introduction of International Education Stream
The year 2018 is expected to witness a slight increase in Canada PNP allocations, as per the Multi-Year Immigration Plan of the Canada government. The allocation target for this year is 55000 compared to 51000, which was last year’s target.
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