The Province of Manitoba has issued 530 new invitations to request a provincial application for immigration applicants in the areas of skilled workers in Manitoba and skilled workers abroad.

A total of 317 invitations were sent to Skillsweek’s international drawing on December 5 and another 213 were sent to qualified applicants from Manitoba.Both streams are part of the Provincial Nominee Program of Manitoba, which allows the province to annually designate a certain number of economic immigrants as permanent residents.

The December 5 draw included an indefinite number of invitations to candidates in the federal Express Entry system, which administers the pool of nominees for the three major federal economic immigration programs in Canada: the Federal Skilled Worker category, the Federal Trades and the Canadian Experience Class.

The MPNP has a fast-entry immigration pathway that is part of its current skilled foreign workers and allows them to be eligible for permanent entry eligible for permanent residence.

In order to be eligible for Manitoba provincial nomination, candidates need to meet the following requirements:

• Must have work experience in an occupation that is in-demand in the province with a job seeker validation code (For express entry candidates)
• Must have a Manitoba connection. (Close relative living in Manitoba as a permanent residence)
• Must have a past education or work experience in Manitoba province.
• Must have minimum language proficiency of CLB/NCLC 5 unless the candidate has work experience in a primarily regulated occupation (minimum CLB/NCLC 7) or a compulsory trade (CLB/NCLC 6).

Express Entry applicants who request and receive a provincial request from Manitoba receive an additional 600 points for their enrollment in the Express Entry classification, which guarantees an invitation to apply for permanent residence in Canada.

Among other criteria, express entry candidates must have at least six months of recent work experience in an occupation considered to be in high demand in Manitoba. To be considered for this flow, Express Entry candidates must register an Expression of Interest (EOI) profile with the MPNP.

The minimum score for candidates invited through the Skilled Workers in Manitoba Stream in this round was 375.