What designation is, and why it is worth having
Three federal programs run on the same idea. The government does not assess your job offer in the first instance. It assesses you, once, and then lets you make offers. Getting through that gate is the whole of the difficulty, and once you are through it the economics of hiring change.
- You are approved once, not per hire. Both the Atlantic Immigration Program and the two community pilots designate the employer rather than the vacancy. Under the Atlantic program you can apply for designation before you have found anyone, and you only apply once. Future use of the program is supported by that initial designation, provided it remains valid.
- There is no labour market impact assessment. Neither route requires one. Under the pilots the department states it flatly. Under the Atlantic program the endorsement application replaces it, and asks you to show that you could not fill the job locally and that the offer meets the program requirements.
- It costs nothing to become designated. Both the Atlantic program and the pilots publish that there is no cost to becoming a designated employer. The costs that do arise are the compliance fee of $230 if you also support a work permit, which under subsection 303.1(6) is remitted and repaid if the permit is refused or if you withdraw the offer and request a remission before it issues, and, in Prince Edward Island, a Certificate of Legal Advice signed by a practising lawyer in good standing with a Canadian law society, which is required before designation.
- The output is a permanent resident. This is the part that changes the arithmetic. A designated employer is not renewing a permit every two or three years and is not managing an expiry date. The candidate applies for permanent residence on the strength of your endorsement or your community's recommendation, and can hold a work permit in the meantime.
- Designation is conditional and it can be withdrawn. Provincial guidelines provide for revocation where an employer is in violation of the immigration legislation, and at the province's discretion for fraud or misrepresentation, for non-compliance with employment standards or health and safety legislation arising after designation, or for non-compliance with your obligations under the program. New Brunswick adds that designation does not transfer automatically when a business is sold.
- Selection is not the same as designation. In two provinces getting your application looked at is now itself a step. Nova Scotia treats designation submissions as expressions of interest and draws from a pool. Newfoundland and Labrador requires an expression of interest and an invitation to apply before an endorsement can proceed. Being eligible, and even being selected, does not guarantee approval.
The two routes, and who decides
| Atlantic Immigration Program | Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots | |
|---|---|---|
| Who designates you | The provincial government of the Atlantic province where the candidate will work. Designation in each province where they will work | The participating community itself, through its designated economic development organisation. Each community runs its own process |
| Where it applies | New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island | 18 participating communities. Sudbury and Timmins appear on both the rural and the francophone lists, which is why 14 rural entries plus 6 francophone entries still comes to 18 |
| Time in operation | At least 2 years of continuous, active operation under the same management in an Atlantic province, or continuous active operation elsewhere with confirmation of approval from the province you are applying to | At least 2 years of continuous operation in a participating community. A recent arrival can still be designated if the community determines you have made or will make a substantial contribution to its economy |
| Location test | The candidate must be working in an Atlantic province | At least 75 per cent of your business work inside the community boundary, which is published on a map |
| Occupation test | No published priority list at the federal level. Provinces apply their own priorities, set out below | The role must be in at least one priority occupation the community has identified from its own economic development priorities |
| Training | Free onboarding training and free intercultural competency training, both before you apply, the second unless the province exempts you | Both courses, both free, both before you apply. You get a certificate to include with the application |
| Settlement | A settlement plan for the candidate and accompanying family, produced by a settlement service provider organisation, filed with the endorsement application | A commitment to connect the candidate with immigrant settlement services in the community, confirmed in the recommendation application |
| What you file per hire | An endorsement application to the province, with the offer of employment on form IMM 0157 and the settlement plan. If endorsed, the province sends a Certificate of Endorsement to the candidate | A recommendation application to the community. If recommended, the community sends a recommendation certificate to the candidate |
| Cost of designation | None | None |
| Labour market impact assessment | Not required | Not required |
Under both routes the certificate goes to the candidate, who then applies for permanent residence. If you are also supporting a work permit you register in the federal Employer Portal, submit the job offer and pay the compliance fee, and under the Atlantic program you must request a work permit referral letter from the province at the time you apply for endorsement.
Where each route stands today, in its own words
These open and close, and a page written six months ago is not a safe guide. What follows is each government's own status wording with the date the source carries. Check it again before you build a hiring plan on it.
Nova Scotia runs designation through an expression of interest pool
Nova Scotia states that it is formalising an expression of interest process for all streams of the Nova Scotia Nominee Program and for designations and endorsements under the Atlantic Immigration Program. Employers still submit full applications, those submissions are treated as expressions of interest and entered into a pool, and the province conducts periodic draws to select submissions for processing. Its stated selection factors are provincial priorities, remaining allocation, pool volume and program integrity considerations. The province answers the question directly, that yes, Atlantic Immigration Program designation submissions are considered an expression of interest and follow that process.
The province is equally direct about what that means for you. It says it cannot provide a timeline for selection and cannot guarantee that a submission will be selected, that meeting the eligibility criteria or holding a case identifier does not guarantee processing, and that there is no guarantee of approval even if a submission is selected. It says it will contact you only if you are selected. Its update of 27 April 2026 introduces a twelve month validity period for expressions of interest, effective 1 May 2026, with transition measures for submissions already in the pool.
Separately, the province has temporarily paused the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Nova Scotia Experience Express Entry stream to occupation 62020, food service supervisors, so job offers in that occupation are currently not eligible under the Atlantic program. Since 17 April 2024 the Nova Scotia Nominee Program has also paused intake of new expressions of interest from the accommodation and food services sector. Nova Scotia's designation guidelines add that designation status is reviewed by the province every two years.
Prince Edward Island has narrowed the program to three sectors
The province states that its Office of Immigration is experiencing a high volume of applications and has received a reduction in allocations from the federal government, and that it is currently selecting and prioritising skilled workers in higher demand sectors. As a result it is limiting applications to the Atlantic Immigration Program to workers in healthcare, construction and manufacturing. Effective 24 January 2025 it will only accept new endorsement application packages in those three sectors. It adds that transport truck driver applications, occupation 73300, are not being accepted under the province's Atlantic Immigration Program at this time.
The same notice sits on the designation application page as well as the endorsement page, so read it before you spend the effort on designation. Prince Edward Island also requires a valid Certificate of Legal Advice signed by a lawyer in good standing with a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, states that certificates issued under the former pilot are no longer valid, notes that home based businesses and businesses in residential homes may not be eligible, and warns that the online designation form cannot be saved part way through.
Newfoundland and Labrador has ended pre-approved spaces and moved to invitations
As of 19 February 2025 the provincial nominee program and the Atlantic Immigration Program moved to an expression of interest model, and a candidate must receive an invitation to apply before proceeding with a nominee application or being included in an Atlantic Immigration Program endorsement application. As of 7 March 2025 job vacancy assessment and designation applications, and update requests on existing ones, are open to employers.
The March 2025 advisory changed three things that matter to planning. Employers are no longer granted pre-approval for a specific number of economic immigration spaces, although they may still indicate hiring needs for a one year period. Occupations approved are valid for one year. And an employer must choose between a job vacancy assessment and an Atlantic Immigration Program designation for a particular occupation, because both can no longer be used for the same one. The changes apply to employers with existing approvals as well as new applicants. The province's employer questions page adds that designation spaces are valid until 31 December of the year of issuance and that an update request is needed in January of the following year.
New Brunswick starts designation with a conversation rather than a form
New Brunswick states that employers must first receive designation from Immigration New Brunswick, that the process confirms employers are eligible, compliant and prepared to assist newcomers in the workplace and the community, and that only designated employers can offer jobs and submit endorsement applications. The published route is to contact Immigration New Brunswick, after which an officer contacts you to discuss next steps, and you may be referred to WorkingNB to identify your needs and the employment services available. The provincial designation guidelines describe employers being invited to apply and then submitting the designation form on the provincial portal.
New Brunswick also publishes the warning most likely to catch a growing business. Any change to the ownership, management or operations of a designated employer may affect the designation, and the designation is not automatically transferred after the sale of a business. If those things change, the new owner or management must contact Immigration New Brunswick. We could not source a sector restriction or a published pause on New Brunswick designation at the review date, and the province directs readers to its own notices page for current restrictions, so we do not state that the route is unrestricted.
The community pilots run community by community, and each sets its own priorities
The federal page lists 18 participating communities. On the rural side, Pictou County in Nova Scotia, North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay in Ontario, Steinbach, Altona and Rhineland, and Brandon in Manitoba, Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan, Claresholm in Alberta, and West Kootenay, North Okanagan Shuswap and Peace Liard in British Columbia. On the francophone side, the Acadian Peninsula in New Brunswick, Sudbury, Timmins and the Superior East Region in Ontario, St. Pierre Jolys in Manitoba, and Kelowna in British Columbia.
Because each community designates its own employers, sets its own priority occupations and runs its own application process, there is no single national answer on whether the door is open. There is also no federally published designation expiry or review cycle that we could source, which is a genuine gap rather than an absence of one. The two questions to put to the economic development organisation before you invest any effort are whether your occupation is on the current priority list and whether the community has capacity this year.
Where to read the rest of your province's requirements
Designation is a federal program administered provincially, so the gate above is only half of what your province asks of an employer. The other half, being the nominee streams that need a job offer, the wage rule, any employer registration and any recruitment requirement, sits on the provincial employer page.
The four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. The community pilots run in six other provinces as well, and each of the nine is set out at hiring by province.
The settlement obligation, read carefully
Under the Atlantic program this is the obligation employers underestimate, because it is the only one that can require you to spend money on something other than wages.
- A plan for each person, including family members. You refer the candidate and their accompanying family members to a settlement service provider organisation, which carries out a needs and assets assessment and produces an individualised plan. Overseas candidates go to a pre-arrival provider, candidates already in Canada to a local one. A copy of each plan goes into your endorsement application, and the candidate files a copy with their permanent residence application.
- The commitment continues past the plan. Designated employers are expected to support the family in actually accessing services to address the needs the plan identifies. That includes recognising the family's preferred official language and, where it is French, facilitating links to tailored francophone settlement supports and francophone communities where those exist.
- Where services are missing, you fill the gap. The provincial designation guidelines put it plainly, that in cases where services may not be available, employers are expected to provide resources, including financial resources, to ensure the provision of settlement support services for the candidate and accompanying family members. Budget for it before you sign the declaration rather than after.
- Reporting runs for up to three years. New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador both publish a commitment to report on the number of candidates recruited, their employment status, details of position, wage and hours, and the settlement supports provided to them, for up to three years after hiring or for the duration of employment if shorter.
- One province attaches a financial responsibility at the lower skill levels. New Brunswick's designation guidelines state that designated employers are expected to support and bear sole financial responsibility for a candidate in the TEER 4 category in the event of a refusal of permanent residence or of de-designation, covering the cost of the candidate's return to their country of origin. Newfoundland and Labrador's designation form carries a comparable declaration. Read the declaration in your own province before you initial it.
What designation is worth, honestly
We act for designated employers on a continuing basis, so we have an interest in your saying yes to this. Here is the case and the counter case, and you should weigh both.
| What it gives you | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| Approval once rather than per vacancy, and no labour market impact assessment on any of them | A designation application that two provinces now put into a selection pool, with no published timeline and no guarantee of processing |
| A hire who becomes a permanent resident rather than a permit holder you have to renew | A settlement obligation that continues past the plan, and that can require you to fund services where none exist locally |
| No provincial fee for designation or, in most provinces, for endorsement | Training before you apply, a Certificate of Legal Advice in Prince Edward Island, and the compliance fee of $230 wherever you also support a work permit |
| A referral to the IRCC Dedicated Service Channel, which will help you match your hiring plan to a program | Reporting for up to three years per candidate, and in some provinces a declared financial responsibility for a refused TEER 4 candidate |
| A standing your competitors in the same town mostly do not have, since designation is granted employer by employer | A status that can be revoked for a breach of employment standards or health and safety legislation arising after designation, and that does not survive a sale of the business automatically |
The honest summary is that designation rewards an employer who hires internationally more than once and who intends to keep people. For a single hire, in a sector a province has currently narrowed, it is often not the right instrument, and we will say so.
Designation is not a hiring strategy on its own. If the person you want is already in Canada on a permit, or is a recent graduate, there is usually a faster route that does not depend on a provincial draw. Look at hiring someone already here and at the Atlantic Immigration Program as your candidate will read it before you commit.
Could you be designated
A structured way to see where you stand against the published criteria. It returns an indication only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited.
Your situation
Nothing you enter leaves your browser.