According to the Government of Canada: “Under Canada’s Constitution, responsibility for immigration is shared between the federal and provincial/territorial governments. The federal, provincial and territorial governments meet to plan and consult each other on immigration issues. In addition, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has agreements with provinces and territories on how they share responsibility for immigration. Each agreement is negotiated separately with the province or territory to address unique needs and priorities.”

The Process

1- Decide where you would like to live and work in Canada; review the province or territory streams and apply;

2- If nominated by the province or territory with which you have applied, you need to apply with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent/ temporary residence.

Application Options

Paper-based process

Once an applicant receives a certificate of nomination from a province for an immigration stream which is a Non- Express Entry Stream, needs to submit a paper based application for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. You need to pass medical exam and meet admissibility requirements. The processing times are normally longer than those of Express Entry.

However, IRCC is preparing and launching new systems and portals at the time of writing this and there might be new portals to apply for even Non-Express Entry Stream online. Please contact us.

Express Entry Process

1- Once you receive a nomination from a province or territory for an Express Entry stream, you create or update your profile in the Express Entry system indicating that you have been nominated by a province/ territory;

2- You create a profile in the Express Entry system and indicate the provinces and/or territories where you are interested in. If you receive a “notification of interest” from any of those provinces and/or territories, you should apply with them for their Express Entry stream directly, if nominated you will receive their offer in your account and you can accept it electronically.