Skilled workers with family ties to Manitoba will get boost in provincial nominee process
Prioritizing applicants with family connections meant to improve province's newcomer retention rate: minister
Prospective newcomers to Manitoba who already have family in the province will soon have a better chance of being approved to live and work here.
Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino said the NDP government is refocusing the provincial nominee program — which matches foreign workers with specific labour needs in Manitoba — to prioritize applicants with familial ties in the province.
In recent weeks, the government has conducted three provincial nominee draws by selecting only those candidates with a close family connection to the province. Future draws will also aim to prioritize family connections, Marcelino said.
To immigrate through the program, the first step for a prospective newcomer is to file an expression of interest.
The province periodically selects people from those expressions of interest who are then invited to apply to the provincial nominee program, and a certain number of those applicants are then approved to come to the province.
The draws are not random, but determined using a ranking scale, with points awarded for a range of factors. The factors that award the highest number of points are having a job offer (500 points) or having a close relative in Manitoba (200 points).
The more points an applicant scores, the more likely they'll be invited to apply to the provincial nominee program.
A draw may focus on expressions of interest from people in a specific area — for example, workers in a particular field — to meet specific needs in the province. In the latest draws, the focus was on candidates with close family connections.
"We know that when applicants and newcomers to Manitoba have that strong connection to family and to Manitoba, they are more likely to stay and we'll have higher retention rates here for the province," Marcelino said.
"That's going to be really, really good news for us and for our economy."
Downward trend in retention
While data surrounding the retention of provincial nominee arrivals is lacking, the province uses individual tax filings to determine how many immigrants — whether they entered through the nominee program or another stream — are still in Manitoba five years later.
As of 2020, the last year in which data is available, the five-year retention rate of immigrant tax filers was 67.7 per cent — a number that has been decreasing annually since 2014. It's also the lowest percentage in 14 years.
"We've been seeing a downward trend for retention. We've been seeing the highest out-migration rates that our province has been seeing for many years now," Marcelino said. "We definitely need to address that."
Since 1998, the Manitoba provincial nominee program has been used to bring skilled workers to the province to help address labour gaps. They can also bring their spouse and any dependants.
Marcelino stresses in future draws, the program will continue to be primarily an economic initiative.
"All these folks are going to be economic migrants, but they will happen to have strong Manitoba connections," she said.
The head of Economic Development Winnipeg doesn't think a focus on family reunification would come at the expense of the program's economic aims.
"One of the things that we haven't necessarily recognized historically is that we have an opportunity to pick and choose … some of those top skill sets and also blend that criterion with the family linkages," said president and CEO Ryan Kuffner.
"I think by doing both, we're not just attracting the talent we need to fill the skills gaps that we have, but we're also maximizing that retention piece, which is critically important when we bring people into the province."
A former Canadian diplomat, Kuffner said he's seen the strength of the country's brand around the world. People want to live here, he said, and Manitoba ranks high in terms of livability and raising a family.
"This is a great place to live, a great place to be, and we need to be bold and confident in selling it to some of the top-skilled immigrants from around the world."
Baker's family rises to the occasion
Christopher Navarro says he found the opportunity to finally be reunited with his wife and three children in Manitoba.
For the better part of his children's lives, they've been apart. He worked at a higher-paying job in Saudi Arabia to provide for his family, while they remained in the Philippines.
Navarro came to Winnipeg in 2020 as a temporary foreign worker and was allowed to stay when his application through the provincial nominee program was granted. His wife and kids joined him last year.
"This is the first time we celebrate Christmas and New Year's together, because most of the time when I was working abroad, I needed to miss every Christmas, every New Year, every birthday of my kids," said Navarro, who has lived apart from his family, on and off, since 2004.
"Even though I waited for a long time, it's worth it."
His provincial nominee application was bolstered because he had a job offer — at Baker's Bowl Bakeshop — and his own family connection to Manitoba. His sister owns the bakery.
Navarro likes the idea that the provincial nominee program will select more people who already have a Manitoba connection.
He credits his sister and brother-in-law with supporting him and his family in their immigration process.
"I always keep telling them that I'll always be grateful that they gave me this opportunity."
Prioritize family, immigration advisory council told
The former Progressive Conservative government struck an immigration advisory council in 2022 that looked at ways to improve the application and resettlement process for newcomers.
One of the ideas, which was in progress as of last summer, was to prioritize prospective immigrants with family connections "at every stage of the process." The advisory council's report also suggested those applicants could get a higher score in the ranking scale.
Jodie Byram, the labour and immigration critic for the PCs, who now form the Official Opposition, said she hopes family connections don't become the main consideration for the nominee program.
As labour shortages "in health-care, education, and the skilled trades continue to grow across Canada, Manitoba can't afford to abandon the economic focus of the provincial nominee program," she said in an email.
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