What are Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs)?

Provincial Nominee Programs allow you to apply for permanent residency by being nominated by a province, based on their economic demands. This program is for skilled workers who may not be eligible otherwise, and who:

have the skills, education and work experience to contribute to the economy of a specific province or territory
want to live in that province, and
want to become permanent residents of Canada

PNP Streams by Province

Each province and territory has its own “streams” (immigration programs that target certain groups) and requirements. For example, in a program stream, provinces and territories may target:

students,
business people,
skilled workers, or
semi-skilled workers

Because each province and territory has their own programs and streams, it is best to following the instructions on their website or contact them directly at the links below. We will also be providing more in-depth guides on specific PNPs for skilled workers as well:

The criteria by province and territory vary and can change without notice, and how to apply depends on which PNP stream you’re applying to. Keep in mind there are two primary methods:

A paper-based application
An online application that is connected to the Federal Express Entry program

Online PNP Process for Express Entry

In the online Express Entry process, there are 2 ways to apply:

You apply to a specific province or territory directly under an Express Entry stream. If approved, you then update or create an Express Entry profile with the nomination confirmation.
You submit an Express Entry profile with the provinces and territories you’d like to live in, and wait for a province to send a “notification of interest”, which is an invitation to apply to them directly. If you are approved by the province or territory, you can then apply under Express Entry.

Note: the province of Quebec does not have any PNPs. See their immigration website to learn more about immigrating there.

If you’re ready to get started with the Express Entry process through our free platform, head over here.

Written by Josh Schachnow

Josh Schachnow is a Toronto-based immigration lawyer. After spending 2+ years growing his own law firm and helping hundreds of immigrants and companies navigate Canadian immigration, he realized there was no technology to help make the process easy. So he started Visto, in an effort to automate all of the things he spent years doing manually – generating checklists, filling out forms, sending documents for signature, and more. He now spends most of his time talking to new clients, partners and working closely with the tech team to continue to improve the platform.