Nova Scotia to Launch New Immigration Stream

Nova Scotia will launch a new immigration stream in January called Nova Scotia Demand: Express Entry.

"The goal of Nova Scotia Demand: Express Entry is to provide a faster route for skilled immigrants to enter Nova Scotia in response to labour-market demands," said Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab. "The Nova Scotia Office of Immigration will work with the private sector to ensure we get maximum use out of this new stream, and others available to them."

Nominees must be highly skilled, have post-secondary education and qualifications that will help them successfully settle in Nova Scotia.

To develop the stream, the Office of Immigration engaged with key partners, including private business, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, immigrant settlement organizations and immigration law practitioners.

The stream comes with 350 new immigration nominations, bringing the total in 2015 to 1,050, up from 700 in 2014.

The nominations only partially reflect the total number of people able to move to Nova Scotia. For every nominee, their families, spouses and children are also included. In 2013, for example, Nova Scotia had 600 nominations, which resulted in 2,552 people immigrating to the province.

Nova Scotia will use the federal government's new intake system, Express Entry, for the stream. Provinces must use federal skills and qualifications criteria to select immigrants.

"We are pleased that Nova Scotia has achieved a 50 per cent increase in nominees in one year, but that is only a first step," said Wadih Fares, the national chair of the Premier's Immigration Advisory Council. "My fellow chair, Colin Dodds, and I, will continue to work with Nova Scotia's very engaged business community to embrace Express Entry.

"Nova Scotia is taking the opportunity that Express Entry provides very seriously and I believe this province has worked harder than any to ensure that business is able to take maximum advantage of the opportunity."

Nova Scotia Demand: Express Entry is a pilot project for 2015, replacing the Regional Labour Market Demand stream.