The Saskatchewan government publishes SINP nomination data on a quarterly basis. Unlike Ontario or British Columbia, which run regular invitation rounds, Saskatchewan does not hold public draws, making these quarterly snapshots the main public window into how the province is actually distributing its nominations. The April release is the first official progress report of 2026.

Federal Cuts Redraw the PNP Map, Prompting a Sector-Based Quota System

To read the Q1 scorecard properly, it helps to rewind to 2025, when Ottawa cut every province's PNP allocation by 50 percent in a single stroke. That decision pushed Saskatchewan's opening 2025 allocation down to just 3,625 nominations — its lowest level since 2009. The federal government later topped the province up with an additional 1,136 spots in August 2025, bringing the year-end figure back to 4,761. Saskatchewan's initial allocation for 2026 has been set at the same 4,761 mark, still roughly 40 percent below the approximately 8,000 nominations the province received in 2024.

Faced with a materially smaller pool of nominations, Saskatchewan announced a structural overhaul of the SINP in late 2025, introducing a new sector-based quota system. For 2026, the 4,761 nominations are divided into three tranches: priority sectors, which account for roughly 50 percent (2,380 nominations); capped sectors, which make up a maximum of 25 percent (1,190 nominations); and other sectors, which take the remaining 25 percent (1,190 nominations).

Seven industries are officially designated as priority sectors: healthcare, agriculture, skilled trades, mining, manufacturing, energy and technology. These are the sectors Saskatchewan views as most critical to its economic growth and long-term labour supply. Capped sectors, by contrast, cover three labour-market-sensitive areas — accommodation and food services; retail, trade and other services; and trucking — with nominations collectively held to no more than 25 percent of the annual allocation. Other sectors capture anything that falls outside those two buckets.

Notably, the 2026 version of the SINP removes the 2025 federal requirement that at least 75 percent of nominees must already be temporary residents in Canada. Candidates inside Canada are not necessarily disadvantaged as a result, but the rule is no longer a mandatory threshold. Provincial officials have also indicated that additional allocations may still be made available later in 2026 at the discretion of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Priority Sectors Well Past the Starting Line; Capped Trades Move at Different Speeds

Looking inside each category, priority sectors have been the most active so far. Against a full-year allocation of 2,380, Saskatchewan used 689 priority nominations in Q1, or 29 percent of that internal quota. Measured against the 1,223 nominations issued overall, priority sectors alone account for roughly 56 percent of the total — cementing their status as the province's main track. Within the priority allocation, 750 spots are ring-fenced for graduates of Saskatchewan-based designated learning institutions employed in priority-sector occupations, signalling that the province still intends to keep a relatively clear permanent resident (PR) pathway open for its international students.

Usage inside the capped group, however, tells a more uneven story. Accommodation and food services used 188 nominations in Q1, or 26 percent of its 714-nomination annual quota. Retail, trade and other services used 74 nominations, equivalent to 31 percent of its 238-spot cap — the fastest burn rate of any capped sub-sector. Trucking issued 46 nominations, or 19 percent of its 238-spot ceiling. Other sectors, meanwhile, account for 226 nominations, using up 19 percent of that category's 1,190-spot allocation.

It is worth stressing that the three capped sectors — accommodation and food services, retail and trucking — historically drove the bulk of SINP applications. Under the new structure, the total nominations available to these industries have been cut by roughly 75 percent, and the "fixed window plus first-come, first-served" design sharpens the competition inside the remaining slots.

Nominations issued in Q1, by sector:

2026 annual allocation share and number of spots by sector:

Six Capped-Sector Intake Windows; Third Round Opens May 4

While priority and other sectors accept applications year-round, Saskatchewan runs capped sectors on a fixed-window schedule, with six intake periods planned for 2026 and nominations handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Two windows have already opened — on January 20 and March 2 — and the March 2 intake has since closed.

The four remaining windows are scheduled as follows:

• Intake 3: May 4, opening at 8:30 a.m. CST for trucking and for retail, trade and other services, and at 12:30 p.m. CST for accommodation and food services.
• Intake 4: July 6.
• Intake 5: September 7.
• Intake 6: November 2.

Provincial officials stress that employers in capped sectors may only apply during these windows, and only on behalf of workers whose current work permits have six months or less of remaining validity. No such restriction applies to employers in priority or other sectors, who can file year-round. Priority-sector candidates also retain the option to apply from outside Canada, without being held to the six-month work permit expiry rule.

For prospective PR applicants and employers navigating the SINP, the Q1 numbers offer a clear readout of Saskatchewan's strategy in a tighter allocation environment: channel scarce nominations first toward healthcare, skilled trades, technology and other priority sectors where labour gaps are most acute, and use the "windows plus caps" combination to ration the flow of nominations into service-heavy industries. For candidates in capped sectors, getting into an intake window early — and submitting a complete application — has never mattered more; for those in priority sectors, the more flexible timing and overseas-application option remain significant structural advantages.