Provincial Nominee Program: 15-19 Months Total

Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) processing involves two stages with separate timelines. First, you must receive a provincial nomination from your chosen province or territory, which takes approximately 3-6 months depending on the specific PNP stream and province. Second, after receiving the nomination, you submit your permanent residence application to IRCC, which takes an additional 12-18 months to process. The total timeline from initial provincial application to PR is typically 15-19 months, though this can vary significantly.

Each province and territory has different PNP streams targeting specific skills, work experience, or connections to that region. Some streams are aligned with Express Entry (providing 600 additional CRS points, essentially guaranteeing an ITA), while others are base PNPs processed outside Express Entry. Express Entry-aligned PNPs result in faster federal processing (6-8 months after nomination) compared to base PNPs (12-18 months federal processing).

Provincial nomination processing times vary widely: some provinces like Ontario (OINP) and British Columbia (BC PNP) have relatively faster processing (2-4 months), while others may take 4-6 months depending on the stream and application volume. Paper-based streams generally take longer than electronic applications. Once you receive a provincial nomination certificate, you have limited time to submit your federal PR application (typically 6 months for base PNP, 60 days for Express Entry PNP).