Monthly Roundup: A Review of October 2021 Nominee Draws

As Federal Skilled Worker draws remain at a standstill, provinces across Canada have continued issuing invitations to prospective nominees. While the Canadian government continues holding Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) specific Express Entry draws, Canada steadily works toward meeting ambitious immigration targets.

What are Provincial Nominee Programs?

Provincial Nominee Programs allow each province and territory to set the requirements for their own immigration streams. Each province and territory has different nominee programs that operate in different ways. Many have programs that target students, businesspeople, skilled workers, or semi-skilled workers. Additional targeted factors usually depend on labour market gaps or other needs of the province. For example, some provinces target skilled workers with strong proficiency in French to help increase their Francophone population.

Immigration through a Provincial Nominee Program makes up a large chunk of Canada’s total economic immigration. Of a total 232,500 economic immigrants targeted for 2021, 80,800 are reserved for those applying under a Provincial Nominee Program.

How do Provincial Nominee Programs operate?

Each province sets its own criteria for their nominee programs. Some programs require candidates to meet the minimum eligibility requirements of their PNP in order to be able to apply for nomination. Other programs operate with an Expression of Interest (EOI) system. Provincial Expression of Interest systems operate similar to Express Entry; candidates submit a profile to the province which is scored using their unique points system. Provinces use a candidate’s score to decide who receives an invitation in their draws. Those who meet the minimum points cut-off (often in addition to other criteria) receive an invitation to apply for nomination

Other programs invite candidates directly from the Express Entry pool. These streams generally target candidates based on some combination of work experience, language results, education, and CRS score. Candidates must indicate their interest in a province on their Express Entry profile to be visible to these programs.

British Columbia

This October, B.C. invited close to 1,000 candidates through their Skills Immigration and Express Entry streams.

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) has continued to target occupational codes for retail and wholesale trade managers and restaurant and food service managers separately with a more competitive score requirement. These targeted draws began in February 2021 with the goal of balancing labour needs across all sectors in the province.

The minimum score selected in BCPNP Tech draws dropped into the 70s this month after remaining at 80 for most of the year.

Alberta

After holding four large draws in the month of September, the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) released details from just one draw this October 2021. On October 12^th, Alberta invited 293 Express Entry candidates with CRS scores as low as 300. Last month, a total of 1,610 candidates were invited under the same stream.

Manitoba

The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program invited a total of 890 candidates under their Skilled Workers in Manitoba, Skilled Workers Overseas, and International Education streams in October 2021.

Candidates invited in both Skilled Worker Overseas draws were invited under a Strategic Recruitment Initiative. Receiving an invitation under a Strategic Initiative increases a candidate’s Expression of Interest score by 500 points. This gives candidates an advantage in Expression of Interest draws and a higher chance of receiving an invitation.

Ontario

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) held seven draws in October 2021, issuing invitations to a total of 2,620 candidates.

In the largest Human Capital Priorities stream draw of the year, Ontario invited 1,408 tech candidates on October 27^th.  Ontario also held two Human Capital stream draws earlier in the month. The first draw, held on October 6^th, targeted 18 select priority occupations. One day later, Ontario held a draw under the French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream.

On October 21^st, the OINP issued a total of 546 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) under the Masters Graduate, PhD Graduate, and Employer Job Offer: Foreign Worker streams.

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island (PEI) Nominee Program held a draw on October 21, issuing 195 invitations to candidates eligible under the Express Entry & Labour Streams. This was the province’s largest draw held this year. In addition, the province also issued 9 invitations to candidates eligible under the Business Work Permit Entrepreneur stream.

This draw adhered to Prince Edward Island’s published draw schedule, which plans a draw for approximately the same time every month.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia held two draws under their Labour Market Priorities stream on October 7, 2021. The Atlantic province invited candidates with the primary occupation of carpenter listed on their Express Entry profile, or those with an eligible job offer from a Nova Scotia employer.

The latest two draws were the third and fourth held through Nova Scotia’s Labour Market Priorities Stream this year.