Provincial Nominee Program

Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is one of the easiest ways to become a permanent resident (PR) of Canada. It is meant for skilled workers who target to live in a specific province or territory of Canada. Each Canadian province may target certain groups or 'streams' of people depending on their local demands. These may include:

• students,
• businesspersons or investors, and
• skilled as well as semi-skilled workers.

Your application process may depend on the stream you fit in. Some streams allow you to migrate to Canada through the Express Entry (EE) program while the application for other streams can only be done through the paper-based process.

Canada is accepting more than 200,000 immigrants as PRs through the PNP from 2019-2021. So, this is the best time to apply for the program. A provincial nomination can win you 600 additional points towards your CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) score increasing your chance to get PR approval by several notches. Provincial nominations often have a low language requirement. Also, their CRS cut-off scores are quite low.

Express Entry Process

If you are eligible for one of the three economic immigration programs covered under the process, namely:

• Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP),
• Federal Skilled Trades Program (FTP), or
• Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and

meet all the requirements of your target province or territory, you may apply for the PMP PR through the Express Entry online. You can do it in two ways:

- You can apply for nomination through the Express Entry stream directly to the province or territory. If you win the nomination, you can mention it in your Express Entry profile.

Or

- You can create your Express Entry profile; wait for a province or territory to send you a 'notification of interest' before you contact them to get nominated.

Paper-based Process

If you are applying for a provincial or territorial nomination in a non-Express Entry stream, you have to follow this process:

• You need to apply for a province or territory for nomination looking for your skillset or target group.
• If you meet all the eligibility requirements and get nominated, you will have to fill and submit a paper application for PR to IRCC.
• You have to pay up all the necessary fees and submit all the documents (including medical exams, language testing results, Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) reports, and police certificates).

Note:

• Paper-based application processes are often much longer than the Express Entry process.
• If IRCC finds you lying, it will not only reject your PR application but also bar you from applying for the PR again for 5 years.