The Provincial Nominee Program lets a Canadian province or territory nominate you for permanent residence based on your skills and their labour market needs. Which province fits your background, and whether you qualify for an enhanced or a base nomination, changes your timeline by months. This page helps you find both before you apply for anything.
The Provincial Nominee Program lets Canadian provinces and territories nominate people who have the skills, education, and work experience to help their local economy, and who genuinely want to live in that specific province. Once nominated, the federal government still makes the final decision on your permanent residence application, since nomination and immigration are shared jurisdictions under Canada’s constitution.
Two places work differently from the rest. Quebec doesn’t participate in the PNP at all, since it runs its own entirely separate immigration selection system with its own criteria. Nunavut is different again, it simply has no nominee program of its own, while every other province and territory does.
The scale of this program has changed significantly. Roughly 55,000 total PNP applications are expected across 2025 through 2027, down about 50 percent from the 110,000 quota set for 2024. That reduction affects how competitive individual streams have become, and it’s worth understanding before you assume your profile will get the same reception a similar applicant received two years ago.
Every provincial nomination falls into one of two categories, and which one you get changes your timeline by roughly six months.
Route | What it means | Processing time |
Enhanced nomination | Tied to an Express Entry-aligned stream, adds 600 CRS points to your profile | About 7 months |
Base nomination | Processed through the non-Express Entry federal route instead | About 13 months |
An enhanced nomination all but guarantees your next Express Entry invitation, since 600 points puts almost every candidate at the top of the pool. A base nomination still leads to permanent residence, but through a slower, separate federal process that doesn’t touch Express Entry at all. Many provinces run both types of stream side by side, so the province you’re targeting isn’t the only decision, the specific stream within it matters just as much.
Province or territory | Notable streams |
British Columbia | Skills Immigration, Express Entry BC, Tech, Entrepreneur Immigration |
Alberta | Alberta Opportunity Stream, Alberta Express Entry Stream, entrepreneur streams |
Ontario | Employer Job Offer streams, Masters and PhD Graduate streams |
Manitoba | Skilled Worker, International Education, Business Investor streams |
Saskatchewan | International Skilled Worker: Express Entry, Occupation In-Demand |
Nova Scotia | Three Express Entry-aligned streams |
New Brunswick | Entrepreneur, international graduate, and employer support streams |
Newfoundland and Labrador | Skilled worker, international graduate, entrepreneur streams |
Prince Edward Island | Skilled worker and entrepreneur streams |
Northwest Territories | Employer Driven and Business streams |
Yukon | Critical Impact Worker stream |
British Columbia already has its own full page on our site, since its streams involve enough detail to deserve one. The other ten are covered below.
BC runs some of the most varied streams in the country. Skills Immigration and Express Entry BC cover skilled and semi-skilled workers, with a Tech stream that carries a lower points threshold for specific technology occupations. Health Authority and International Post-Graduate streams let qualifying candidates, such as those with a job offer from a public health authority, apply directly without registering or being invited first. Entrepreneur Immigration is separate again, built for people actively managing a business in the province rather than working for an employer.
Whether your occupation, your score, or your business plan actually fits BC’s current thresholds is worth checking properly on our BC PNP page rather than assuming this summary covers your specific situation, since BC’s requirements shift more often than most provinces.
Two streams exist for workers already living and working in Alberta or connected through the Alberta Express Entry Stream, plus separate entrepreneur streams, including a Foreign Graduate Start-up Visa Stream for international graduates of top universities who want to launch a business in the province.
Ontario’s streams are built around what you already have, a job offer through the Employer Job Offer streams, in-demand skills through a dedicated pathway, or an advanced degree through the Masters and PhD Graduate streams for recent graduates of eligible Ontario institutions.
Manitoba runs a genuinely distinct three-step process that other provinces don’t follow. You submit an Expression of Interest, receive a Letter of Advice to Apply if selected, then submit a separate federal application only after that. This applies across the Skilled Worker, International Education, and Business Investor streams.
Saskatchewan’s leading stream, International Skilled Worker: Express Entry, connects directly into the federal system for an enhanced nomination. A separate Occupation In-Demand category exists for specific roles the province has identified as short-staffed.
Nova Scotia runs three separate Express Entry-aligned streams, more than most provinces offer, alongside its own skilled worker and entrepreneur categories for candidates not connected to Express Entry.
New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island Each Atlantic province runs its own skilled worker, international graduate, and entrepreneur streams, and several require confirmed employer support specific to that province before you can apply, so the requirements genuinely differ province to province even where the stream names sound similar.
Northwest Territories and Yukon Both territories run employer-driven streams built around addressing specific local labour shortages, generally requiring a confirmed job offer from a territorial employer before a nomination is even considered.
Not sure which type of work permit fits your situation?
This is the part most applicants don’t find out until they’re already partway through the process. PNP applicants pay in two entirely separate stages, to two different levels of government.
First, a provincial nomination fee goes directly to the province itself, and this varies enormously depending on where you’re applying. Nova Scotia charges as little as $250. Ontario ranges from $1,500 to $2,000 or more depending on the specific stream, particularly its Tech stream. BC charges up to $1,750 depending on the pathway.
Once you’re nominated, the federal fee applies on top, currently $990 processing plus the $600 Right of Permanent Residence Fee, $1,590 CAD total for a single applicant. These figures reflect IRCC’s fee schedule following the April 30, 2026 increase. Confirm both the provincial fee for your specific stream and the current federal amount at canada.ca before you budget for either.
Your total timeline depends on both the provincial and federal stages. The provincial nomination itself can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months depending on the stream and current application volume, before the federal clock even starts. Once nominated, an enhanced nomination processes in about 7 months through Express Entry, while a base nomination takes closer to 13 months through the separate federal process. Add the provincial stage’s own timeline on top of either figure for your realistic total.
A client came to Brightlight assuming a base nomination was her only realistic option, since her occupation didn’t seem to match any Express Entry stream she’d researched on her own.
Brightlight reviewed her actual work experience against several provincial programs and identified that a specific Nova Scotia stream, aligned directly with Express Entry, matched her profile closely. She received an enhanced nomination instead of the base route she’d assumed was her only path, cutting her expected timeline by roughly six months.
Your situation may be different. Either way, we will tell you honestly what your options are.
No immigration consultant can guarantee a provincial nomination or permanent residence approval. What Brightlight guarantees is an accurate identification of which province and which route, enhanced or base, actually fits your profile, and careful preparation so neither the province nor IRCC has reason to ask questions.
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An enhanced nomination is tied to an Express Entry-aligned stream and adds 600 CRS points, making your next invitation to apply for permanent residence almost certain, with processing around 7 months. A base nomination routes through a separate, non-Express Entry federal process instead, taking closer to 13 months. Which one you get depends on the stream, not just the province.
Costs come in two stages. A provincial nomination fee goes directly to the province first, ranging from about $250 in Nova Scotia to $1,500 to $2,000 or more in Ontario depending on the stream. Once nominated, the federal fee applies on top, currently $1,590 CAD total for a single applicant. Confirm both amounts for your specific stream before applying.
Yes. You can create an Express Entry profile and separately seek a provincial nomination, or select multiple provinces of interest directly within your Express Entry profile. If a province nominates you through an enhanced stream, the 600 CRS points are added to your existing profile automatically, rather than requiring you to start a new application from scratch.
No. Quebec doesn't participate in the PNP at all. Instead, it operates its own entirely separate immigration selection system with its own criteria for economic immigration, run independently of the federal PNP structure that applies to every other province and territory. If you want to settle in Quebec specifically, you need Quebec's own program rather than any PNP stream.
Generally yes, once you hold permanent resident status, Canadian permanent residents can live and work anywhere in the country. That said, most provincial nomination agreements expect a genuine intention to live in the nominating province when you apply, and moving immediately after landing can raise questions during processing if that intention wasn't genuine to begin with.
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