Top Canada Migration Pathways for Skilled Foreign Nationals

by Mansi Sahai Published on 09/Feb/2023

Canada strongly believes that economic class immigrants possess the right skill set and capability to support the Canadian economy and diversification plan. Therefore, the Canadian government run several immigration programs with easy-to-follow process and protocols via which aspiring individuals and families can move to Canada within 12-18 months.

Under Canada’s 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, the IRCC is aiming to welcome 465,000 in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 5,00,000 new comers by 2025. Around 60 per cent of total new comers are set to arrive under skilled economic immigration category.

The most popular Canadian permanent residency pathways for skilled workers are the federal Express Entry, which is an electronic application management system. While, another key pathway is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

Skilled Workers – Move to Canada with Family

As a skilled worker you can also bring your immediate family members including spouse or common-law partner and dependent children to Canada.

Immigrate via Express Entry

Express Entry is the key pathway for IRCC to manage permanent residence applications from skilled foreign nationals under following economic class immigration programs:

Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)

Eligible candidate can create and submit their Express Entry profiles online followed by which candidates get a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score based on different factors like age, language skill (English or French), work experience, education, etc.

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) conduct Express Entry draws in bi-weekly to issue invitations to apply for Canada PR to highest ranking candidates only.

Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

Through the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP), the Canadian provinces and territories select and nominate eligible individuals who wish to move to any specific province on a permanent basis.

All provinces and territories, except Quebec and Nunavut, run unique PNP streams with different eligibility criteria for selecting eligible candidates to apply for provincial nomination.

To apply as a provincial nominee, you have two options, i.e., to apply via base streams directly or to apply via Express Entry aligned enhanced PNP streams.

With a provincial nomination via enhanced streams, an Express Entry candidate get additional 600 CRS points, which practically guarantees receiving an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence visa in upcoming Express Entry draw.