One of the best options for skilled workers to immigrate to Canada is through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). The PNP is used by almost all provinces and territories to nominate and invite skilled workers to relocate to their areas of responsibility.
The program's main goals were to locate more immigrants outside of Canada's three major cities and assist employers in the provinces in meeting their labour force needs. It was also intended to contribute to a more equitable distribution of new immigrants throughout the nation. Retaining and integrating the newcomers in the province or territory they have nominated is another goal of the program.
To be granted permanent resident status in Canada, immigrants nominated by their province must show that they genuinely intend to reside in the nominating province. The nominee is free to leave the province after landing, though.
A study on the PNP, specifically the retention of immigrants in the province they choose to settle in, was recently published by Statistics Canada. Statistics Canada measured a province or territory's propensity to retain its immigrants using information from tax records and the Immigrant Landing File in addition to three retention indicators.
The study's findings demonstrated that PNP immigrants were largely retained in the province or territory where they first arrived.
By the end of the landing year, 89% of the provincial nominees who arrived in 2019 had remained in their intended province or territory. There was, however, a significant variance by province or territory, with Prince Edward Island having 69% and Ontario having 97%. British Columbia had a 95% rate, Alberta had a 92% rate, Manitoba had an 88% rate, and Saskatchewan had a 78% rate.
A significant percentage (in the mid-80% range) of the nominees who had remained in their province at year's end had done so for five years. Similar variations, ranging from 39% to 94%, were seen by province.
On the other hand, immigrants are less likely to stay in their original province of residence the longer they are in Canada. In terms of provincial nominees, the 1-year retention rate for immigrants who arrived in 2010 was 95.8%; the 5-year rate was 88.7%; and the 10-year rate was 84.4%. Even though this might be the case, the numbers still show a high percentage, indicating that most provincial nominees, on average, remain in their original province even after migrating for ten years.
Which provinces had the greatest rates of retention through the provincial nominee program?
A province's retention rates will vary depending on the economic opportunities and conditions in that province. A province's size can also have an impact on its retention rate because a larger province gives immigrants more options for where to settle down in order to take advantage of economic opportunities, which reduces the need for them to leave the province. Furthermore, the size of a city is important because large cities like Toronto and Vancouver typically have the highest retention rates.
PNP retention rates were lowest in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia, and highest in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. As the years passed since immigration, the difference between the provinces tended to widen considerably.
A portion of the variations in retention rates between the Atlantic provinces and Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia could be accounted for by the provincial unemployment rate. Nevertheless, there was still a sizable retention rate disparity between the provinces even after accounting for a wide range of control variables.
To which province are the immigrants moving?
Provinces stand to gain from both those provincial nominees who arrive in the province and stay there, as well as those who relocate there from other parts of the nation after landing.
The secondary migration of provincial nominees is "magnetized" by Ontario. Ontario had 23% more provincial nominees by the end of the first full year after the landing year than there were in the province at the beginning of the landing year. Five years after the landing year, Ontario had nominated 56% more people.
Specifically, considering the outflow of provincial nominees from the province as well as the inflow of nominees, Ontario was the only province or territory to experience a significant net gain from this process due to the large inflow of nominees from other provinces.