How to Immigrate to Canada Without a Job Offer?

Most Canadian immigration programs have no job offer requirement. In fact, about 84% of Express Entry candidates were invited to apply for permanent residency without holding a Canadian job offer, according to IRCC’s Year-End Report 2022.

The vast majority of all Canadian permanent residents do not have a job offer in Canada when they apply. While some Canadian immigration programs require applicants to have a Canadian job offer, there is a range of programs and options available to foreign nationals without an offer of employment in Canada. Here are some main immigration programs that do not require a Canadian job offer:

Express Entry

The Express Entry system is responsible for welcoming over 100,000 newcomers to Canada each year. If you are applying for an Express Entry program, it is likely that you will not need a job offer. Most applicants in the Express Entry pool do not have a job offer from a Canadian company on their file.

Express Entry requires applicants to have adequate work and educational experience, as well as language skills. However, you will not lose points for not having an offer from a Canadian employer.

Back in 2016, the Canadian government made several changes to the Express Entry system. One of these changes reduced the importance of a Canadian job offer to an applicant’s CRS score. Before November 2016, having a Canadian job offer would give an applicant 600 points. This would virtually guarantee that the applicant would receive an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

The government adjusted this program so that job offers no longer carry such a significant amount of weight. Now if you receive a Canadian job offer, you will receive an additional 50 points; unless the job is in a senior managerial position, in which case 200 points are awarded.

Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) that do not require a job offer

That said, there are also many Provincial Nominee Programs that do not require a job offer to apply.

Some provinces, such as Saskatchewan, will instead use Expression of Interest (EOI) points-based systems – similar to Express Entry – to determine which candidates will be invited to apply for nomination.

Other provinces, such as Ontario or Nova Scotia, will invite candidates directly from the Express Entry pool to fill specific demographic or labour market gaps. That means, just by having an Express Entry profile in the pool of candidates, you have the opportunity to be invited to settle permanently in a Canadian province.

Programs with Job Offer Requirements

On the other hand, there are some immigration programs that have a job offer requirement. Some provincial nominee programs mandate that applicants have a job lined up in Canada.

Other programs, such as the Rural and Nothern Immigration Pilot, also require a job offer in the province. This requirement is to ensure the candidate has sufficient ties to the community they are applying to, which will increase their likelihood of settling permanently.

So if you want to immigrate to Canada and do not yet have a valid job offer, don’t panic! There are many options available to become a permanent resident do not include a job offer requirement.

If you want to explore all of your Canadian immigration options, with or without a job offer, fill out our free assessment to get in touch with the Canadim Team!