Canada province's new migration scheme: No job offer required, no point-based system

A new provincial immigration programme in Canada has recently entered the immigration market. Nova Scotia offers aspirant immigrants a fair chance to obtain the Canadian residency.

The new programme, named the Regional Labour Market Demand Stream, is part of the Provincial Nominee Program of Nova Scotia, an eastern peninsular province surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.

With its broad selection criteria, it offers an attractive alternative to the more restrictive immigration progammes for applicants interesting in obtaining the Canadian residency.

For one, no job offer is required at the time of the application. Instead, the applicant will be asked to present an Employment Settlement Plan. In this plan, the applicant must elaborate on its intended occupation in Nova Scotia, the reasons for choosing Nova Scotia, the location they wish to settle and the reason why they want to settle there.

Although a job letter is not required, the applicant must be eligible in one of the labour categories that are in demand. The province has published an occupation list including 43 occupations, mostly relating to the fields of engineering, health services (including nursing), skilled trades, and food services (a complete list can be viewed here:)

The fact that no job offer is required may prove beneficial to some applicants, stated David Cohen, Canadian Attorney and author of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) news.

“In recent years, many if not most new Canadian immigration programs require that individuals first obtain a job offer in Canada in order to be eligible to apply. The fact that this new stream does not require a job offer is likely to generate large amounts of interest.”

The fact that no point-based system is applied, as is the case in many other programmes, forms another advantage according to Deepak Kohli, President of Transcend Consultants, a Canadian Immigration Consultant.

In order to be eligible for the programme, conducting an IELTS tests or providing an Educational Credential Assessment are not required. Minimum language proficiency must be proven through English studies, and the applicant must have at least a high school level of education and a degree, diploma, or certificate from a post-secondary institution.

Furthermore, the applicant must be between the age of 21 and 55, be legally residing in the current country of residence and have sufficient funds for settlement in Nova Scotia.

“This is a new experimental program with broadly defined selection criteria. In a way, this goes back to the core Canadian Immigration selection system that most applicants used to face in the past, however, without a defined selection grid/ points system,” commented Kohli.

The programme was opened for applications on March 6 this year. First, applicants must apply to for the programme on the provincial level. The processing time of this application is expected to be up to one month or more depending on the volume of applications received and the time required to assess the application documents.

When the application is approved, the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration will then issue a Provincial Nomination Certificate, which must be approved by the Federal government. The Federal government assesses an applicant’s admissibility with respect to medical and security/criminality concerns and is finally responsible for granting Canadian permanent resident status.

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