Manitoba Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) for Skilled Workers

The Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers is driven by the needs of Manitoba employers. It ensures the selection of internationally trained and experienced workers who have the skills needed in the Manitoba labour market. Once nominated, these workers may apply to Immigration, Refugees and citizenship Canada for a Canadian permanent resident visas to settle and work in Manitoba.

The Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers nominates applicants who have a strong connection to that province through ongoing employment and sufficient skills, education and training, work experience and official language proficiency to make an immediate and ongoing contribution to the Manitoba economy.

All applicants to the Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers :

  • must have ongoing Manitoba employment, a condition which demonstrates that they have the connection to Manitoba required of them.
  • must submit a Settlement Plan, to explain their plan for settling in Manitoba successfully and contributing economically.

The Manitoba PNP for skilled workers is comprised of two separate streams :

  1. The Skilled Workers in Manitoba stream
  2. The Skilled Workers overseas stream

The Skilled Workers Manitoba PNP

Skilled Workers in Manitoba are not subject to a points-based assessment. Temporary foreign workers employed in Manitoba as well as international working graduates from a Manitoba post-secondary education institution may apply.

ELIGIBILITY OF CANDIDATES

To be eligible for the Skilled Workers in Manitoba PNP, candidates must :

  • have completed at least six months of continuous full-time employment with a Manitoba company (the employer) as a temporary foreign worker or as an international student working graduate ; and
  • have received a long-term, full-time job from that same Manitoba company , after having completed this period of at least 6 months full time work experience
  • Have all the qualifications required for the position including training/education and licence or certification
  • Demonstrate the English or French proficiency to fulfill the duties of the job description
  • Have a connection to Manitoba through employment which is stronger than ties to another province
  • Demonstrate in a Settlement Plan the intention and plan to live, work and settle in Manitoba as a permanent resident
  • Provide documented proof of settlement funds in their name (current income associated to ongoing eligible employment in Manitoba will be considered sufficient)

Certain types of work experience will not count:

  • Any periods of self-employment, unauthorized work, or periods of employment during which a candidate was engaged in full-time study (ex: work experience gained on a co-op permit) will not be included when calculating the period of qualifying work experience in Manitoba.
  • Self-employed individuals, business owners, owner-operators and individuals providing services as independent contractors to the company supporting their application are not eligible to apply as Skilled Workers in Manitoba and any work experience in Manitoba gained in those capacities will not be considered when calculating the qualifying period of work in the province.
  • Foreign workers exempt from requiring a work permit to work in Manitoba (ex: Ministers of Religion) are not eligible to apply to this program.
  • Employment that is part of a work-study program is also no eligible.

In lower skilled occupations (NOC C or D), applicants must submit valid results of a Manitoba PNP-approved language test demonstrating official language proficiency at CLB 4 (NCLC 4, French) or higher in all test categories according to the MPNP’s CLB Language Grid. To be considered valid, this test must have been taken no more than two years prior to the date of submission of the application. NOC C and D jobs include lower-skilled workers in the trades, primary and manufacturing industries, sales and services, and certain clerical and assistant categories.

ELIGIBILITY OF EMPLOYERS

Employers are also subject to conditions for the employment work experience to be considered eligible under the Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers. AS such the employer must :

  • be incorporated or registered by or under an act of the legislature of a Canadian province or the Parliament of Canada ;
  • be operating as a business that has an established production capability, plant or place of business in Manitoba ;
  • be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Manitoba PNP that they are an established business with an ability to offer the applicant a full-time and long-term employment in Manitoba.

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENT WORKING GRADUATES

Additional conditions for International Student Working Graduates are as follow:

  • Have attended an authorized education or training program at a public, or registered private vocational, post-secondary institution in Manitoba (Language programs are specifically excluded)
  • The academic/vocational program must have been full-time and at least one academic year in duration
  • Have successfully completed this program and been awarded a diploma, degree or certificate.

International Students who have graduated from a post-secondary program in another Canadian province to apply to the Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers because they have been offered a job in Manitoba, must first have been working for that Manitoba employer for at least one year. Otherwise Students outside Manitoba are NOT eligible to apply to the MPNP as Skilled Workers in Manitoba. But they may still apply to the MPNP as a Skilled Worker Overseas, provided that they can demonstrate a connection to Manitoba that is stronger than their ties to another part of Canada.

The Skilled Worker Overseas Manitoba PNP

Applicants to the Manitoba PNP who are applying as Skilled Workers Overseas must :

  • Demonstrate an established connection to Manitoba either:

(1) through the support of family members or friends,

(2) through previous education or work experience in the province or

(3) through an invitation to apply received directly from the Manitoba PNP as part of a Strategic Recruitment Initiative ; and

  • Score sufficient points as per the point system applicable to this category

  1. Manitoba Support

A Manitoba Supporter is an established resident of the province who is a friend or relative of the applicant and is willing and able to review and endorse the applicant’s plan for settling and finding employment in their destination community. A Manitoba Supporter must be the applicant’s close relative or friend/distant relative, and must be:

  • able to provide documents proving they reside and are established in Manitoba and have been living in the province continuously for at least one year (ex: copy of Manitoba Health Card)
  • a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (ex: copy of Permanent Resident Card)
  • able to demonstrate sufficiently close ties to the applicant and to Manitoba
  • able to demonstrate that any applications they previously supported resulted in successful, permanent economic establishment in Manitoba
  • able to support the applicant’s Settlement Plan

Both the applicant and the supporter who are close relatives must provide documents proving their familial relationship. Friends and distant relatives must not be currently supporting the settlement of another Manitoba PNP applicant or nominee or a person under another Canadian immigration program.

Close relatives of an applicant or of the applicant,s spouse may be  one of the following :sister or brother ; niece or nephew ; aunt or uncle ; first cousin ; mother or father ; grandmother or grandfather.

  1. Manitoba Experience or Education

Manitoba Experience means having lived in the province as a temporary foreign worker or as an international student in the past. Past employment in Manitoba must have been if full time  work for a Manitoba employer at least six consecutive months with a vild work permit.

Past education in Manitoba means having been an international student with a valid study permit and attended and completed an authorized education or training program at a public, or registered private vocational, post-secondary institution in Manitoba (other than language studies).

  1. Manitoba Invitation

The Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers regularly issues Invitations to Apply, at its sole discretion, to qualified candidates who are identified as part of one of Manitoba PNP’s  Strategic Recruitment initiatives in the province and overseas on recruitment missions. Furthermore from time to time the Manitoba PNP may accept requests from candidates overseas who wish to make an exploratory visit to the Province of Manitoba to evaluate their possibilities of settlement and employment and to attend an interview with PNP officials. However such visits, arranged through the Manitoba PNP, does not guarantee approval of an application under the Manitoba PNP for Skilled Workers Overseas.

  1. Points Assessment

Every candidate who wants to be considered under the Skilled Worker Overseas stream must score at least 60 points based on five cretieria :

  1. Language proficiency in English or in French demontrated by the results, not more than 2 years old, of an approved language test
  2. Age
  3. Work experience during the 5 years prior to the date of submission of an application
  4. Education level
  5. Adaptability : as attested by various factors such as the presence of a relative or friend in Manitoba, an invitation to apply received as part of a recruitment mission or exploratory visit ; postasecondary studies in Manitoba of 1 or 2 years; regional immigration.

PROCESS OF APPLICATION FOR IMMIGRATION AS A MANITOBA PNP SKILLED WORKER CANDIDATE

The process of immigration to Manitoba under the Manitoba PNP for skilled workers streams involves the following steps:

  1. STEP 1 : Candidates must first Submit an Expression of Interest
  2. STEP 2 : The highest-scoring qualified candidates with a connection to Manitoba are invited to submit an MPNP application
  3. STEP 3 : Following a complete assessment, the Manitoba PNP nominates successful candidates to make a separate application to the Government of Canada for permanent resident visas for them and their immediate family members.