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Overview
The New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) offers pathways to permanent residence for foreign nationals who wish to live and work, or run a business, in New Brunswick.
While Immigration New Brunswick selects and nominates candidates based on their skills, education and work experience in relation to New Brunswick’s economic needs, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) makes the final decision on applications for permanent residence.
Streams
Pilot programs
Expression of interest
Once you have decided on a stream, you’ll need to submit an expression of interest. An expression of interest is not a complete application.
Submitting an expression of interest does not guarantee you will receive an invitation, even if you meet the criteria.
You are responsible for maintaining your authorization to work in Canada at all times.
To make changes to your expression of interest:
- withdraw your current expression of interest
- submit a new one with the appropriate changes
Expressions of interest are not considered on a first come, first served basis. Withdrawing and resubmitting does not place you at the back of the queue.
An INB profile can have only one active expression of interest or application.
If you want to submit an endorsement application to the Atlantic Immigration Program candidate pool and submit an expression of interest to the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program candidate pool, you must create a separate INB profile using a different email address for each program. You can only have one active application with Immigration New Brunswick. This means you can be in both pools, but you can only move forward with one of them.
If you receive an invitation to apply for a New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program stream, you must withdraw all your other submissions.
If your Atlantic Immigration Program endorsement application is selected for processing, you must withdraw all your expressions of interest.
If you receive an invitation to apply for a New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program stream and your Atlantic Immigration Program endorsement application is selected for processing, you must choose only one and withdraw the other.
If you submit more than one active application, all of them could be refused.
Invitations to apply
Submitted expressions of interest are placed in the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program candidate pool. They remain valid for 365 days from the date of submission.
Immigration New Brunswick reviews submitted expressions of interest and issues invitations to apply only to selected individuals based on provincial labour market needs, available allocation and other priorities determined by the Government of New Brunswick.
The following streams are subject to scheduled invitation draws:
- New Brunswick Skilled Worker stream
- New Brunswick Express Entry stream
- New Brunswick Strategic Initiative
Nomination application
You must submit a complete application to Immigration New Brunswick within the timeline specified in your invitation letter.
Your application will first go through a completeness check. Immigration New Brunswick will:
- request missing documents as needed
- close you application if it’s missing the mandatory documents indicated in the application guide
Your application will then be assessed. Due to a high volume of applications, this may take several months to complete. You may:
- be asked to provide more documents
- receive a phone call from an officer (private number) to discuss your application
receive a procedural fairness letter, outlining concerns about your eligibility
If your application is successful, you will receive a nomination certificate through the INB portal. This is the only way a certificate is issued.
If you cannot satisfy Immigration New Brunswick that you meet all requirements, your application will be refused. You will receive a refusal letter through the INB portal.
After nomination
As a nominee, you are expected to apply for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) before your endorsement certificate expires.
Your family members must be included in your permanent residence application, either as accompanying or non-accompanying.
Once nominated, you and your family members cannot apply, or withdraw the nomination certificate to reapply, under any other program or stream in New Brunswick.
There are two ways to apply for permanent residence. Your certificate will indicate whether you can apply through:
You must contact Immigration New Brunswick to:
- report changes in employment
- correct an error on your nomination certificate
- ask for a work permit support letter
- ask to extend the validity of your nomination certificate
- withdraw from the program
Immigration New Brunswick will then advise you of the next steps and issue you the appropriate documents, if needed.
Fill out one the following forms to contact Immigration New Brunswick:
Apply for a work permit
As a provincial nominee, you may apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for a work permit while waiting for a decision on your permanent residence application.
Bridging open work permit
- You may apply for this on your own if you qualify
- Find out if you are eligible
- Also review this operational bulletin
Closed work permit with employer support
- You’ll need a letter of support from Immigration New Brunswick
- You’ll also need an offer of employment number from your employer
- The offer of employment number consists of the letter A followed by a 7-digit number (A1234567)
To obtain the offer of employment number, the employer must:
- create an account on the Employer Portal or log in if they already have an account
- submit an offer of employment
- pay the compliance fee
The employer is responsible for the compliance fee, which cannot be taken from you in any way.
Get help
If you have questions or need help, you can contact us Monday to Friday between 8:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays.
Immigration Navigation Service
Phone: 506-451-2083
Email: [email protected]