Prince Edward Island PNP Draw: Province Issues 122 Canada Immigration Invitations

Colin Singer
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Prince Edward Island PNP Draw: Province Issues 122 Canada Immigration Invitations

Prince Edward Island has conducted a new provincial draw, issuing invitations to apply to 122 skilled worker and entrepreneur Canada immigration candidates.

The February 15 draw saw invitations issued through the Labour Impact, Express Entry and Business Impact Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP) streams.

It saw 121 invites issued to Labour Impact and Express Entry candidates working for a PEI employer with a minimum score of 65.

Business Impact candidates received 1 invitation, requiring a minimum score of 105 points.

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PEI PNP Immigration Draw

Date Category Invites Issued Minimum Score
15-02-2024 Labour Impact/Express Entry 121 65
Business Impact 1 105

PEI launched its Expression of Interest system at the start of 2018, and has made monthly draws ever since, with some disruption due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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PEI issued 2,423 invites in 2023, up from 1,853 during 2022.

Of the 2023 invites, 2,359 went to Labour Impact and Express Entry candidates, with the remaining 64 going to Business Impact candidates.

Prince Edward Island Express Entry Stream

PEI’s Express Entry category operates by considering candidates already in the federal Express Entry Pool for a provincial nomination.

Such a nomination adds 600 points to a candidate’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and effectively guarantees an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian immigration.

The PEI Express Entry Category features two pathways to Canadian permanent residence, one for candidates with a job offer and one for those without.

Prince Edward Island Labour Impact Category

1) Skilled Worker Stream

This employer driven stream allows skilled workers with an employment offer in PEI to be nominated for Canadian Permanent residence if they meet the following criteria:

  • A full time employment offer from a Prince Edward Island business in an occupation classified as TEER category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC);
  • Completion of a post-secondary education, with a minimum of 14 years of formal education;
  • Between 21 and 55 years of age;
  • At least 2 years of full time work experience in the past 5 years;
  • Sufficient proficiency in English or French to occupy the employment offered;
  • Sufficient settlement funds;
  • Demonstrated intention to settle in Prince Edward Island.

2) Critical Worker Stream

This category is designed to resolve labour shortages and is open to foreign workers already in PEI with employment in specific critical demand occupations. The primary criteria for nomination are:

  • A full time offer of employment from a Prince Edward Island business in one of the following occupations:
    • Truck driver;
    • Customer service representative;
    • Labourer;
    • Food & beverage server;
    • Housekeeping attendant.
  • 6 months of work experience with the Prince Edward Island business offering employment;
  • Current valid Canadian work permit;
  • High school diploma and minimum of 12 years of formal education;
  • Between 21 and 55 years of age;
  • At least 2 years of full-time work experience in the past 5 years;
  • Demonstrate basic proficiency in English or French language;
  • Sufficient settlement funds;
  • Demonstrated intention to settle in Prince Edward Island.

Prince Edward Island Business Impact Category

Work Permit Stream

Individuals applying under the P.E.I. Work Permit Stream must obtain a Canadian work permit and work for a P.E.I. business for a certain amount of time as designated in a Performance Agreement.

After the Performance Agreement is fulfilled, the applicant must make a minimum $150,000 investment in the business and commit to managing the business on a daily basis from within P.E.I.

Previously, Prince Edward Island operated direct permanent residence business streams, but these were closed in September 2018 over immigration fraud concerns.

Business Groups Tell IRCC To Let In More Construction Trades Helpers

Colin Singer
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Business Groups Tell IRCC To Let In More Construction Trades Helpers

The president of a British Columbia business group says Canada needs to let in more foreign nationals through its immigration programs to help in the construction of new housing for Canadians.

“The government’s solution to prioritize construction workers for permanent residency solely hinges on the new category-based selection process to expedite entry for permanent residency applicants with specific trade skills,” Anita Huberman, president and CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, has reportedly said.

“Despite this program’s utility, it excludes applicants with experience as construction trades helpers and labourers, which is one of the top two residential construction occupations most in need of workers.”

Under its Housing Action Plan announced in November, Ottawa is trying to jumpstart the construction of rental housing with an additional $15 billion in new loan funding, starting in 2025-26, for the Apartment Construction Loan Program.

“This investment will support more than 30,000 additional new homes across Canada, bringing the program’s total contribution to more than 101,000 new homes supported by 2031-32,” notes the Department of Finance on its website.

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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has also made it easier for employers in the construction trades to hire foreign nationals for jobs that are going begging for a lack of Canadians to fill them.

Canadian employers who are hoping to bring in foreign nationals to Canada as temporary workers through the streamlined, Recognized Employer Pilot (REP) can now hire them for a greatly-expanded list of eligible occupations, including many of the trades such as carpenters, cabinetmakers, construction millwrights, heaving, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics, and residential and commercial installers and servicers.

British Columbia business leaders say that’s a good first step but more need to be done to effectively address the residential construction labour shortages.

“Really, it’s making sure that through the various immigration programs – including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada – that there’s opportunity for a higher number of skilled labour folks as a portion of those immigration numbers that are allowed under the various programs,” Trevor Koot, CEO of the British Columbia Real Estate Association, reportedly told the Business In Vancouver newspaper.

Calls For Easing Of Immigration Program Criteria For Construction Sector

“And to give a little bit more flexibility on requirements like the language requirements, because to offer the skills that are required to build a home are far more important than somebody having a dual language or other requirements that the immigration programs are outlining right now.”

The West Coast province is expected to have a shortfall of 4,500 workers to fill jobs in the residential construction sector this year, notes the Canadian Builders Association of BC (CHBA BC).

Through its two-tier immigration system, Canada allows foreign nationals to gain their permanent residency through the federal Express Entry system’s Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program and Canadian Experience Class (CEC), as well as the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) of the 10 Canadian provinces.

Under the Express Entry system, immigrants can apply for permanent residency online and their profiles then are ranked against each other according to a points-based system called the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The highest-ranked candidates will be considered for an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence. Those receiving an ITA must quickly submit a full application and pay processing fees, within a delay of 60-days.

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Through a network of  PNPs, almost all of Canada’s ten provinces and three territories can also nominate skilled worker candidates for admission to Canada when they have the specific skills required by local economies. Successful candidates who receive a provincial or territorial nomination can then apply for Canadian permanent residence through federal immigration authorities.

Temporary workers come to Canada via a number of channels, including the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) for those who require a Labour Market Impact Assessment and the International Mobility Program for those who do not.

A positive LMIA confirms there is a need for a foreign worker to fill the job at hand and that no Canadian worker is available to do the job.

The IMP allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers without the need for an LMIA. It includes intra-company transferees, those entering Canada as part of trade treaties, such as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) or the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) and those who qualify for an open work permit.

The Global Talent Stream (GTS), a part of the TFWP, can under normal processing situations lead to the granting of Canadian work permits and processing of visa applications within two weeks.

The TFWP is made up of high-skilled workers, low-skilled workers, and the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.

Temporary Residents Behind Growth In Quebec Workforce 

Colin Singer
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Temporary Residents Behind Growth In Quebec Workforce 

Immigration boosted the number of workers in Quebec and helped resolve labour shortages, a think-tank has said.

“We see that this labor supply has really increased significantly over the last year, almost 100,000 more people,” Emna Braham, director of the Institut du Québec (IDQ), reportedly told the French-language service of Canadian Press.

“This growth has been largely attributable to temporary immigration over the past year.”

According to Statistics Canada, the province of Quebec hit a new record for temporary residents in the fourth quarter of last year with the number of these residents spiking 42.3 per cent to hit 528,034.

A year earlier, there were only 360,936 temporary residents in that province which has under the leadership of its premier, François Legault, repeatedly stated it will hold the line on immigration.

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The Quebecois premier repeatedly insisted last year that Quebec would hold the line at 50,000 new permanent residents.

The latest data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shows Legault’s immigration officials seem to have made good on that election promise with 52,790 new permanent residents to the province last year.

Although the province was well  on its way to much-higher immigration numbers right up through to the end of the third quarter of the year, monthly immigration rates fell precipitously in October, going from 6,140 arrivals in September to only 3,785 the following month and then only 2,225 and 2,595 for each of November and December.

The provincial government in Quebec sees immigration, particularly that immigration from non-French-speaking countries, as a possible threat to the long-term viability of the Quebecois culture.

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Legault has made it clear his government is deeply-committed to ensuring the survival of the French language and has gone so far as to put forth proposals to limit all economic immigration to the province to French-speaking immigrants by 2026.

“As premier of Quebec, my first responsibility is to defend our language and our identity,” said Legault. “During the past few years, the French language has been in decline in Quebec. Since 2018, our government has acted to protect our language, more so than any previous government since the adoption of Bill 101 under the Levesque government.

Quebec Premier Wants All Economic Immigration To Be Francophone By 2026

“But, if we want to turn the tide, we must do more. By 2026, our goal is to have almost entirely francophone economic immigration. We have the duty, as Québécois, to speak French, to daily pass on our culture and to be proud of it.”

With immigration providing a growing workforce for the province and the rising interest rates slowing down economic growth in Quebec, the number of job vacancies has fallen from 211,000 to 149,000 over the course of the past year.

That’s despite a net growth of 67,000 jobs in Quebec last year.

“We are no longer at the level of post-pandemic catch-up, but we are still at a level of job creation which is close to what we experienced on the eve of the pandemic, between 2016 and 2019, at times when Quebec’s economy was going well,” noted the IDQ in a statement.

Temporary workers and international students in Quebec often later seek to immigrate to Canada through either the federal Express Entry system’s Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) of the provinces.

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