All you wanted to know about the Yukon Nominee Program to migrate to Canada

Among the many provincial nominee programs to help individuals migrate to Canada, the Yukon nominee program is not very well known. The program was introduced to encourage workers and entrepreneurs from around the world to come to the province of Yukon and contribute to its economy through their skills and resources.

Yukon is situated in the north-western side of Canada and is known for its mineral resources, low population and large areas of wilderness. The capital is Whitehorse, where over two-thirds of the population live.

The province has a very sparse population which makes it conducive to offer plenty of opportunities to skilled and semi-skilled workers.

Yukon Provincial Nominee Program (Yukon PNP)

The main immigration program in the province is the Yukon Provincial Nominee Program. The Yukon PNP has various categories which include:

• Express Entry
• Skilled Worker Program
• Critical Impact Worker Program

The Yukon Nominee Program (YNP) is run by the Yukon Government in partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).Under this partnership, the Yukon government can nominate applicants who qualify for permanent residency.

The YNP streams for Skilled Workers and Critical Impact Workers is locally driven and based on the needs of Yukon employers. If eligible Yukon employers are unable to find Canadian citizens or permanent residents to fill permanent full-time employment, they will recruit employees from outside Canada.

Both the employer and foreign worker must meet eligibility requirements to apply to the Yukon Nominee Program.

If you wish to apply under any of the programs in the Yukon nominee program, here are the details:

Express Entry

The Yukon Express Entry program is for skilled workers who want to live and work in the provinces. The province introduced the Express Entry stream in 2015.

This category allows Yukon to nominate individuals who are in the Express Entry pool of IRCC and who have the qualifications, professional job experience, language skills and other factors to help them develop and integrate successfully into the labour market and communities of Yukon. Candidates for Express Entry must meet the requirements for at least one of the three federal economic immigration programs- Skilled Worker, Skilled Trades or Canadian Experience Class.

The eligibility criteria for the three programs are as under:

 1) YEE Skilled Worker Program

• Candidate must meet the minimum requirements for the Federal Skilled Worker Program
• He must be accepted into IRCC’s Express Entry pool and have an Express Entry profile number and a Job Seeker validation code
• Applicant must demonstrate that he has the required settlement funds to support himself and his family members even if they are not immediately coming to Canada
• Applicant must have a valid, permanent, full-time job offer from an employer in Yukon; LMIA
• Candidate must have plans to live in Yukon

2) YEE Skilled Trades Program eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the YEE Skilled Trades Program the applicant:

• Must meet the minimum requirements for the Federal Skilled Trades Program
• Must be accepted into IRCC’s Express Entry pool and have an Express Entry profile number and a Job Seeker validation code
• Must demonstrate that he has the required settlement funds to support himself and his family members even if they are not immediately coming to Canada
• Must have a valid, permanent, full-time job offer from an employer in Yukon, LMIA LMIA
• Must have a certificate of qualification in that skilled trade issued by a Canadian provincial or territorial authority
• Must plan to live in Yukon 

3) YEE Canadian Experience Class eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the YEE Skilled Trades Worker stream the applicant must:

• Meet the minimum requirements for the Federal Canadian Experience Class
• Must be admitted into IRCC’s Express Entry pool and have an Express Entry profile number and a Job Seeker validation code;
• Must have a valid, permanent, full-time job offer from an employer in Yukon
• Have a plan to live in Yukon

Yukon nominee program special eligibility requirements

As we mentioned earlier both the employer and foreign worker must meet eligibility requirements to apply to the Yukon Nominee Program. Here are the eligibility requirements:

Employer eligibility requirements

• Be a permanent resident of Canada
• Operating in Yukon as:

          o   a registered Yukon business with an office in Yukon for at least 1 year before applying for the program;

          o     an industry association with an office in Yukon for at least 1 year before applying for the program

          o   a municipal, First Nation or territorial government for at least 1 year before you apply to the program

          o   a non-profit organization for at least 3 years, with funding for at least 1 year following the application to the program.

• Have current and valid required licenses under applicable federal, territorial and municipal requirements
• Be in a registered business that has operated in Yukon for at least 1 year on a full-time basis
• Not be operating any of the businesses mentioned in the government list

Foreign worker eligibility requirements

• As a foreign worker you must meet the following requirements to apply under these programs
• You must have a valid Temporary Work Permit (TWP) or student visa, if in Canada at the time of the application
• You must not be a refugee claimant, visitor or be under implied status;
• You must have a guaranteed job offer in Yukon that meets the economic and other criteria for nomination
• You must   provide proof of qualifying work experience:

         o   Critical Impact Worker Program: You need at least 6 months of full-time relevant work experience over the 10-year period before the date of your Yukon Nominee Program application; or

        o    Skilled Worker Program: You need at least 12-months full-time relevant work experience over the 10-year period before the date of your Yukon Nominee Program application.

• Show that you meet the language requirements for the skill level of the position.
• You must have the intention to live in Yukon and apply to the Government of  Canada for permanent residence within 3 to 6 months of starting work.

Application process

Yukon employers who meet certain requirements may apply to nominate eligible foreign nationals for employment and residence under the program.

If efforts to hire local candidates are ineffective and an employer needs to look outside of Canada to fill labor shortages for permanent full-time jobs, the YNP is an alternative open to them.

Hiring a foreign national to come and work in Yukon can be a long process. Typical processing time for Skilled Worker / Critical Impact Worker applications is 8-10 weeks from receipt of a complete application. Processing time will increase with the volume of applications received. Once an application has been approved the foreign national must apply to the IRCC.

The processing time for temporary work permits varies by country of origin. A temporary work permit enables the foreign national to come and work in Yukon while his / her application is being processed at IRCC for permanent residency.

The Yukon province is usually not in the list of places that immigrants choose to settle down in Canada. But the low population of Yukon makes it the ideal place to settle down where you have grater chances of your PR application to be approved. The employers here are keen to recruit skilled workers and the provincial government is keen to encourage entrepreneurs to set up businesses here. While other immigration candidates may be keen to settle down in popular provinces like Ontario or British Columbia and may not succeed because of the huge number of applications, you can improve your chances of succeeding in getting your PR visa by applying to a province like Yukon under the Yukon Nominee program where the number of applicants is much less.