Who chooses you
This is the question that sorts every route. Not what you do for a living, not which province you like, but which body has the power to say yes to you personally, and what that body needs to see first.
| Route | Who chooses you | Job offer | Ranked against other people | Who decides permanent residence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The federal pool Express Entry |
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, scoring every candidate in a pool against each other | Not required, though it can add points | Yes. This is the only route where you compete | IRCC |
| A provincial nomination Provincial Nominee Program |
A province or territory, which nominates you to the federal government | Depends on the stream, each province sets its own | Not federally once you are nominated. The competition happens at the provincial stage | IRCC |
| An endorsement or a recommendation Atlantic Immigration Program, rural and Francophone community pilots |
An Atlantic province, or the designated economic development organisation of a particular community | Required, from an employer that body has designated | No. The endorsement is the gate, and there is no score | IRCC |
| Quebec, outside this comparison A separate system under the Canada-Québec Accord |
The Government of Quebec, which selects its own economic immigrants | None of the three routes above leads to Quebec. Quebec runs its own selection and issues its own certificate before any federal step, so it is a separate route rather than a fourth variation. Fidera Law does not practise Quebec immigration and does not act on these applications. If Quebec is where you intend to settle, you need counsel admitted to advise on that system. | ||
The third route is the one people miss
These routes are often filed under either federal or provincial, and they are neither. They are federal programs in which somebody else holds the gate.
- The Atlantic Immigration Program is a federal program, not a provincial nominee stream. It has been permanent since 1 January 2022 and sits in its own place in the federal regulations. What the Atlantic province does is designate the employer and then issue you an endorsement certificate. That is a real and mandatory gate, but it is not a nomination, and treating it as one leads people to look for it on the wrong page and misread what they need.
- In the rural and Francophone community pilots, no provincial government is involved at all. The recommendation comes from a designated economic development organisation inside the community itself, after a designated local employer offers you the job. A province cannot help you here and does not need to.
- Quebec has no provincial nominee program, and neither does Nunavut. Under the accord signed in 1991, Quebec selects its own economic immigrants and issues a Québec selection certificate. Ottawa cannot admit an economic immigrant to Quebec without one, and cannot overturn Quebec's choice. It is a different system, not a variation on the provincial one, which is why it is not one of the three routes on this page. We do not practise Quebec immigration and we do not act on Quebec applications, so if that is where you intend to settle, this is the point at which to find counsel who does.
These routes are not mutually exclusive. A provincial nomination through an enhanced stream adds 600 points to your federal ranking score, which in practice puts you at the top of the pool. For many people the provincial route is not an alternative to the federal one, it is how they win it.
Choose a route
Each one leads to the streams inside it, the criteria that actually apply, and what the selecting body needs to see.
The federal pool
Express Entry and the programs inside it, Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades, plus category based selection.
Explore → bA provincial nomination
Nominee programs run by each province and territory, each with its own streams, criteria and selection priorities.
Explore → cAn endorsement or recommendation
The Atlantic Immigration Program, where the province endorses you, and the rural and Francophone community pilots, where a local organisation recommends you. All three compared, with a page each.
Explore →Caregiver routes are closed to new applications
The federal Home Care Worker Immigration Pilots were paused from 31 March 2026 and no caregiver specific route to permanent residence is currently open.
Applications already filed are still being processed. What that means, and what is left.