Provincial Nominee Program allows different Canadian provinces and territories to nominate individuals who wish to immigrate to Canada and are interested in settling down in a particular province. There are ten provinces and three territories in Canada. All the provinces and territories have their own immigration programs and they target students, business people, skilled worker or semi skilled workers as per requirement.

All provinces and territories have an agreement with Citizenship and Immigration Canada that allow them to select immigrants who meet the requirements that they have set forth. All provinces and territories except Quebec have launched their own immigration programs to align with Express Entry streams. Quebec State has its own separate immigration program. In case you need to know more about Quebec Immigration, kindly visit http://visasabroad.com/Quebec-Selected-Skilled-Workers-Immigration-Program/ and get the relevant information you need.

The list of provinces and territories participating in the PNP program include:

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Northwest Territories
• Nova Scotia
• Ontario
• Prince Edward Island
• Saskatchewan
• Yukon

Why should you apply through PNP if you have submitted your PR application through Express Entry?

Firstly, in order to apply for Canadian immigration through Province Nominee Program via Express Entry System, you need to have an Express Entry profile created on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website. Generally, while creating an Express Entry profile you have an option of selecting if you want the province to view your profile. If your profile is created in express entry pool and you are still waiting for invitation to apply as your CRS score is less than the cut off trend, then you have an option of applying though State Nomination of Province Nomination Program.

Every province or territory has its own National Occupation Classification list of occupations. If your occupation is listed in that list, you can apply using PNP. But, it’s very important to note that every province has a different documentation requirement checklist which needs to be submitted while applying for migrations to that particular province.

The Province Nomination Program information given below should only be used as a guide. If you want a better, clear understanding on your eligibility appropriate for your circumstances, then we would request you to contact us. The team of expert consultants at Visas Abroad will provide you the knowledge, support and understanding needed to turn your dreams of living abroad into reality.

The typical steps that you can follow to apply for PNP nomination (Not Including Quebec Province) are listed below:

• Create an Express Entry profile in case you meet the eligibility requirement of immigration to Canada under Skilled worker migration program.
• Get language assessment of English or/and French done before you apply for immigration through a particular Province Nomination Program. In order to apply for PNP nomination, you must meet the language proficiency level for that particular state.
• Get Educational Credential Assessment done through WES. The ECA report must be equivalent to at least post-secondary credential level.
• Check if your occupation falls in the NOC list of any province or territory. In case your occupation matches a particular province or territory, you can apply particularly on their immigration website. Generally provinces have a restriction on number of applications accepted every year. So, they open window for receiving applications for just 1-2 days or sometimes just a few hours without any prior notifications. There is no particular prior notification about exactly when and for how long a province will accept applications
• If you receive an invitation through PNP nomination of a particular state, you need to submit all relevant documents for that particular province as per the guidelines given on the website of that province or territory.
• Once your application is submitted along with the documents, you now need to pay application fees of that province. After that you can follow the same steps as given in the guidelines of http://visasabroad.com/Express-Entry/

Obligations of PNP Program:

If you are applying for immigration under Province Nomination Program for Skilled Worker, it is very important to note that you need to stay at least 2 years in the province that nominated you.

Eligibility criteria for Canada Province Nomination Program for Skilled Worker:

Each province and territory has its own streams and criteria for their Provincial Nominee Program. These criteria are based on the labor needs of this province and can change without notice. The eligibility criteria for immigration through PNP is based on whether you apply through non-Express Entry streams or Express Entry process.

If you are applying through Non-express Entry process:

• You must meet the minimum requirements of one of the province or territory’s eligibility criteria of non-Express Entry streams
• Your occupation must be present in the NOC list of that particular province or territory.

If you are applying through Express Entry:

You must create an Express Entry profile and show that you meet the minimum criteria for Express Entry, including the requirements of one of the immigration programs it covers. You must have a minimum score of 67 points to create your Express Entry profile. To get your assessment done, please visit the link, http://www.visasabroad.com/skill-assessment/ and proceed accordingly.

• Your occupation must be present in the NOC list of that particular province or territory.
• You must meet the minimum requirements of a province or territory’s Express Entry PNP stream. You need to get your language proficiency in English and French done and meet the required minimum skill level. You also need to get your educational assessment done through WES and meet the minimum educational qualification requirement.
• You must be nominated under that stream.

Processing Time for Application Processing using PNP:

Before Canada Express Entry system existed, immigration to Canada used to be a very lengthy process. Now processing time of visa applications through express entry system has lesser applications processing time which is about 6 months. But, in case you want to apply for PR visa through State nomination using Province Nomination Program the application processing time would be around 18-36 months.

<blockquote>Visas Abroad continues to grow every day as hundreds of its happy customers walk out with visa. You get best results when both consultants and clients work together in a mutually beneficial association. Immigration is a long journey starting with the complexity of understanding immigration process, evaluating your skills and qualifications, fulfilling document requirements, to finally applying visa on Invitation. Our job is to simply these complexities. We deal with all types of visas such as PR visa, TR visa, Study visa, visit visa, etc…</blockquote>