Application Management Strategy/
Skilled Worker Overseas Stream Paused
The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MBPNP) provides for various categories of applicants to seek permanent residence in Manitoba. Among the categories of applicants are skilled workers in Manitoba, as well as applicants overseas. These are separate groupings, each with its own requirements and limitations. In 2015, the government will be implementing an ‘application management strategy’ to restrict the number of applications received from overseas based on the quota numbers which it is permitted under agreement with the federal government.
In the interim, while there remains no limit for the grouping of workers already in Manitoba, the province has received more than enough applications to fill its quota for skilled workers overseas. It is therefore disallowing the submission of further applications effective August 1, 2014. The category will not reopen until January 1, 2015, at which time the new management strategy will be implemented to limit the number of applications received, rather than allow the backlog to grow.
What Has Changed/What Will Change
Previously, applications for the MBPNP from eligible workers overseas would be received year-round, and applications that were received after the yearly quota was filled would have their applications queued for the re-opening of the quota. This would create a backlog of cases, as the number of applications in queue continued to grow. In addition to cutting off applications in the current fiscal year effective August 1, 2014, noted above, the government will at all times in the years beginning with 2015 limit the number of applications to those which it can intake for a given year. Applications received thereafter would have to refile in the following year.
Impact and Response
The impact of the above-measures will of course make it important to prepare and time the submission of applications carefully.
In the short-term, anyone currently seeking to utilize the MBPNP from overseas should file their application immediately, and no later than July 31, 2014.
In the long term, applicants will need to ensure that they properly prepare applications and submit them in a timely fashion, before quotas fill. Given that quotas, forms, requirements, etc. can change, it will become imperative to keep up-to-date to ensure that a proper application, filed in accordance with then applicable requirements, will be ready to be filed when the time is right. Otherwise, a great deal of time, energy, and cost may have been wasted, and the ability to utilize the program may be significantly delayed or even eliminated.
The information in this article is for general purposes only, and not intended as legal advice for any particular situation.