Provincial Nominee Programs

An article from the Toronto Star indicates the high incidence of fraud in the Provincial Nominee Program:

The Provincial Nominee Program gives provinces discretion to pre-select investors, entrepreneurs and skilled workers with job offers for fast-track processing, dramatically cutting the wait to immigrate from as long as five years to just a few months.

"Unfortunately, PNP applications continue to be our most time consuming in terms of fraud, thus having a negative impact on processing times," says the Canadian visa office in Beijing in an internal report to the immigration department.

Perhaps not surprisingly (given the high rates of fraudulent documentation and unscrupulous third parties), India has the highest incidence of application rejection:

Top 10 source countries of provincial nominees in 2006 and their application rejection rates:

1. Philippines: 887 (2 per cent)

2. China: 549 (5 per cent)

3. Korea: 492 (7 per cent)

4. Germany: 462 (0 per cent)

5. United Kingdom: 461 (1 per cent)

6. India: 393 (21 per cent)

7. United States: 191 (3 per cent)

8. South Africa: 156 (0 per cent)

9. Israel: 134 (3 per cent)

10. Iran: 119 (0 per cent)

Manitoba, which has the most aggressive PNP program -- accepting 6,600 nominees last year -- (keeping in line with its population building goal) has a straightforward way of dealing with fraud:

"Frauds are usually associated with paid third-party representatives.

``To avoid frauds, (our staff) refuse to deal with them. You have to pick your source countries carefully and avoid places that are known for a high level of fraudulent activities," explains Ben Rempel, Manitoba's assistant deputy minister of labour and immigration.