PNP: Provinces Solely Assess Eligibility

Summary#

This is a proposed change to the Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Provincial Nominee Program), published on February 22, 2025. It would make provinces and territories solely responsible for deciding two main things about Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applicants — their ability to economically settle and their intention to live in the nominating province — removing a duplicate federal check by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Interested people have 30 days from publication to comment.

What it does#

• Replaces the current federal membership test for the Provincial Nominee Class with a simpler rule: a person is a member if they are named in a nomination certificate that is
  • issued by the province under a valid provincial nomination agreement,
  • made according to provincial selection criteria approved in writing by the Minister, and
  • based on the person’s ability to become economically established and their intention to reside in that province.
• Gives the nominating province or territory the sole responsibility to assess the applicant’s:
  • ability to economically establish in Canada, and
  • intention to live in the nominating province or territory.
• Removes IRCC’s ability to re-do those province-level assessments. IRCC would still screen applicants for federal admissibility (e.g., criminality, security, health).
• Codifies that provinces must have selection criteria approved by the Minister, and expects bilateral agreements to match the new rule.
• If adopted, the change would come into force on the day the regulations are registered.

Who's affected#

• People applying under provincial nominee streams of the PNP.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) — the agency that currently does a second eligibility check.
• Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which currently sometimes repeats the intent-to-reside check.
• Provincial and territorial governments that operate PNPs (note: Quebec and Nunavut have different arrangements or do not participate in the PNP the same way).
• Employers and communities that recruit and rely on PNP newcomers may notice faster federal processing.
  If it is unclear who is affected in a specific case, the proposal asks people to raise that in the comment period.

Why it matters#

• It aims to cut duplication between federal and provincial roles. That should speed up processing and reduce some federal workload. IRCC estimates processing savings of $681,767 over 10 years (measured across 2024 to 2033), with implementation and monitoring costs of $345,092, for a net benefit of $336,674 (all in 2023 dollars).
• With about 47,800 PNP permanent-residence applications handled by IRCC each year, IRCC expects an average reduction of three minutes of officer time per file.
• Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) would also save time by no longer duplicating the intent-to-reside check.
• Applicants may save time and avoid having to re-prove the same points to both provincial authorities and IRCC.
• The change is meant to clarify federal–provincial roles and make the PNP a more clearly joint program by requiring ministerial approval of provincial selection criteria.
• This is a proposed regulation, not final. IRCC would still check admissibility, and the change only takes legal effect if and when the regulation is registered.