Saskatchewan Province has Announced a New Immigration Program

A new pilot program was introduced on November 25 by Saskatchewan province. Skills Pilot Program was created to help the province meet its labor market demand.

The Skills Pilot Program is designed to meet the labor market demands and was announced on November 25 by Saskatchewan as the new immigration pilot.

The Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot will help Saskatchewan employers to recruit international talent in certain in-demand occupations. The eligible jobs for the Skills Pilot program will have entry-level positions with on-the-job training. The sectors that have the highest labor demands in Saskatchewan are health, manufacturing, agriculture, ag-tech, construction, hospitality, and retail.

“The demand for labor in our province is strong, and it’s only going to increase with the significant economic projects recently announced in Saskatchewan,” Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison said in a media release.

This new Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot is going to provide help to employers as they can have greater access to international talent to recruit. Workers who will be included through this Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) stream will be given help by their employers and community. The pilot will be launched by the province in Dec 2021.

It is a pilot project that will attract talent as Saskatchewan is currently experiencing labor recruitment challenges in the province. Some of the eligibility criteria for candidates include:

• The applicant should have a full-time, permanent  job offer of employment along with a SINP job approval letter for an eligible occupation from a registered Saskatchewan employer;
• The minimum  score requirement should be met as per the Canadian official language proficiency level; and
• The applicant should have the least required educational and work experience requirements. It will be at least one year of work experience in the job that the applicant is applying for in Saskatchewan;
• Currently, there is no information on which occupation will be eligible and also the minimum education requirement.

Employers have the right to use the pilot program for the recruitment of international talent, and they should prove that they had made earnest efforts to include the domestic applicants for recruitment before they reported to the pilot. Also, they will have to prove that they will benefit their Busines through international recruitment and agree to provide settlement support for the workers. Rest we are still waiting for clear details on the pilot program by the authorities.