PNP Canada: Provincial Nominee Programs

A province or territory reviews what you can offer, including your schooling, your work history, and your skills, to decide if you are a good fit. If it wants you, it issues a nomination, its formal backing for your application. The province itself does not have the last word on permanent residence. In New Brunswick, for instance, IRCC, the federal immigration department, decides in the end.

Provinces usually divide their program into streams, meaning separate tracks aimed at different kinds of applicants. In B.C., the program opens a permanent residence route for workers, business owners, and companies. New Brunswick explains that you just pick a stream rather than a specific pathway.

You can apply for permanent residence through the PNP in two ways. Your province or territory will let you know which one applies to you: Express Entry or the non-Express Entry route.

With an Express Entry nomination, you get 600 extra points, which helps you get invited to apply for permanent residence. You can check your own score with the CRS calculator.

The two routes also move at different speeds once IRCC has your application. Here are the processing times right now:

How long you wait can also shift if applications outnumber the people Canada is able to admit. Each year, the Immigration Levels Plan fixes how many newcomers Canada intends to welcome.

IRCC runs invitation rounds, often called draws, reserved for candidates holding a provincial nomination. Here are the newest rounds, and you can see every 2026 round on our latest draws page:

Every province sets its own procedure, but the New Brunswick program gives a sense of how it works.

1. You choose a stream and tell New Brunswick you want to be considered. If the province is interested, it may invite you to apply.
2. Once New Brunswick invites you to apply for a stream, you must withdraw all your other submissions, so it's worth choosing your stream carefully from the start.
3. Your application gets reviewed, a process that can run several months given the demand, and you might be asked to send extra documents.
4. If you are unable to prove you satisfy every requirement, the province will refuse your application.
5. If the province picks you, you send your permanent residence application to IRCC before your nomination certificate, the document that confirms your nomination, runs out.

Your family members have to go on your permanent residence application, either as accompanying you or not accompanying you. Once New Brunswick nominates you, you and your family may not apply through any other New Brunswick program or stream, and you cannot hand back the certificate to apply again.

Get in touch with Immigration New Brunswick whenever you want to:

• report a change in your job
• fix a mistake on your nomination certificate
• request a support letter for a work permit
• request more time on your nomination certificate
• leave the program

For these requests the province points you to form NB-021, or form NB-011 if you want to withdraw.

As a New Brunswick nominee, you may be able to apply for a work permit while waiting for a permanent residence decision, if you qualify. To do that, you need a support letter from Immigration New Brunswick plus an offer of employment number issued by your employer. The number looks like the letter A followed by seven digits, for example A1234567.

The BC PNP exists to serve the economy, and anyone it nominates through one of its streams may seek permanent residence in Canada. Its Skills Immigration route brings in workers who have the background, training, and credentials the province is looking for.

When B.C. sends out invitations, it can weigh more than one factor. It can also direct invitations at workers who hold a valid professional designation. For many BC PNP application routes, eligibility depends partly on how your job is classified in the federal government's 2021 National Occupational Classification system.

B.C. urgently needs people in health care, teaching, child care, and veterinary care. A healthcare worker employed by a B.C. health authority might qualify under the Health Authority route. Some of the care roles that may be singled out for invitations are:

• 31102, the code for family doctors and general practitioners
• 31301, registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
• 31302, for nurse practitioners
• 32101, for licensed practical nurses
• 32102, for paramedical roles
• 33102, for nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service staff
• 42202, for early childhood educators

If your job offer is a nurse aide, orderly or patient service role (code 33102), you'll need to be on the BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry before you can get a targeted invitation. The complete Care and Build lists are part of the BC PNP's selection of workers list, and you can check your own code with Find my NOC.

This page gives information, not immigration advice. If you'd like to talk your score or your file through with a consultant, give us a call (calls may be recorded).