Canadian Immigration News

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) will resume identifying candidates in the Express Entry pool through the popular Human Capital Priorities (HCP) Stream during the week of April 10 to 14, 2017. Identified candidates will be issued a Notification of Interest (NOI), after which they may apply to the Ontario government for a provincial nomination certificate. This is the second time the province of Ontario has resumed issuing NOIs for the HCP Stream in 2017, after it had ceased identifying candidates for over a year between February 16, 2016 and February 21, 2017.

Quebec’s Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Diversité et de l'Inclusion (Ministry of Immigration, Diversity, and Inclusion, or MIDI) has announced that individuals who have submitted an application for a Quebec Selection Certificate (Certificat de sélection du Québec, or CSQ) through the online intake management system Mon projet Québec may modify and update their information in certain sections of the online profile.

Manitoba's Minister of Education and Training, Ian Wishart, has announced that the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) will implement improvements to service standards, stating that “As of this month, all candidates who submit complete applications to the program will be processed in six months or less.”

At a press conference announcing the improvements, Wishart confirmed that a backlog of applications to the program — which stood at more than 5,100 applications in April 2016 — has now been cleared.

On April 5, 2017, the province of British Columbia (BC) invited 458 workers and international graduates to apply to the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP). Candidates in five sub-categories managed through the Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS) were issued Invitations to Apply (ITA) for a provincial nomination certificate, with which they may then apply to the federal government for Canadian permanent resident status. This most recent draw represents the biggest so far in 2017 to be conducted upon the five sub-categories within the Skills Immigration and Express Entry BC streams which are managed through the SIRS.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has invited 3,753 individuals to apply for Canadian permanent residence in its latest draw on candidates in the Express Entry pool. This draw, which took place on April 5, 2017 represents the fourth time in 2017 that the minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score a candidate requires in order to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) has dropped to a record low. Candidates in the Express Entry pool with a CRS score of 431 or higher are now in a position to submit an application for Canadian permanent residence. IRCC expects to process applications within six months, meaning that these individuals and their families are likely to be in a position to arrive in Canada before the end of 2017.

The government of New Brunswick and the federal government of Canada have signed a new agreement, the Canada-New Brunswick Immigration Agreement. The deal aims to help New Brunswick address labour shortages and grow its population.

The recently-launched Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program has attracted interest from employers in its early stages, the government of Canada has announced. In a meeting between the federal Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, and Donald Arseneault, New Brunswick Minister for Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, it was revealed that as of March 31, 2017, more than 50 employers have been formally designated to recruit immigrants within the scope of the AIPP.

The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) continues to be a pathway to permanent residence for foreign skilled workers, including individuals overseas, as well as many who are already living and working in the province. On March 30, a total of 225 candidates who had previously made a formal Expression of Interest in settling in Manitoba as a skilled worker were invited to submit an application for a provincial nomination certificate to the MPNP. Following a successful nomination, a candidate may then apply to the federal government for permanent resident status.

The province of Quebec has earmarked $179.4 million over the next five years to support the integration of new immigrants. This figure includes $13.5 million to attract international students and $103.5 million for francization of newcomers.

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador wants annual immigration numbers to increase to 1,700 new permanent residents per year, an increase of around 50 percent on current intake numbers.