Effective May 4, 2026, the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) is restricting invitations to apply (ITAs) under the NB Experience pathway of its Skilled Worker Stream to candidates working in just three sectors — healthcare, education, and construction trades — until further notice; the province has attributed the change to the limited nomination space remaining under the stream, with industry trackers estimating New Brunswick's total 2026 allocation at roughly 3,603, well short of the federal-level expansion that pushed the national PNP target to 91,500 spots for the year; this marks the second major sector-focused tightening within four months, following the February 3, 2026 overhaul that froze the accommodation and food services sector (NAICS 72) and several retail-oriented National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes, and candidates outside the targeted sectors are encouraged to either withdraw and resubmit their Expression of Interest (EOI) under another stream, or open a separate INB profile (using a different email address) to pursue another pathway or an Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) endorsement.

The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) opened its third 2026 application intake window for capped-sector employers on May 4, with both retail, trade, and other services and accommodation and food services hitting their limits the same day. Only the trucking sector remained open at the time of writing, with 28 positions still available. The third window again allocated a total of 400 positions across the three capped sectors—240 for accommodation and food services, 80 each for retail/trade and trucking—mirroring the distribution used in the second intake on March 2. Saskatchewan's overall 2026 allocation of 4,761 nominations matches the level it ended 2025 with, but remains well below the roughly 8,000 spots it received in 2024, reflecting the lasting impact of Ottawa's 50% cut to provincial nominee allocations introduced in 2025. As of the most recent quarterly update, SINP had issued 1,233 nominations, or roughly 26% of its 2026 cap. Three intake windows remain this year: July 6, September 7, and November 2.

Newfoundland and Labrador held its fourth provincial immigration selection round of 2026 on May 1, issuing a total of 190 invitations through the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Nominee Program (NLPNP) and the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) — with NLPNP candidates accounting for 82.6% (157 invitations) and AIP candidates receiving 33. While the round marks the smallest single draw in 2026 to date and continues a trend of progressively shrinking round sizes, the year-to-date numbers remain striking: across four draws, the province has now issued 1,090 invitations, far exceeding the 256 invitations sent during the same January-to-May window in 2025 — a 325.8% year-over-year increase. The acceleration plays out against a notable federal backdrop: Ottawa's national PNP target has climbed from 55,000 in 2025 to 91,500 in 2026, with Canada's four Atlantic provinces collectively receiving more than a 65% allocation boost. With neighbouring New Brunswick having paused new AIP employer designations as of February 3, 2026, Newfoundland and Labrador now stands out as the Atlantic region's most active and stable provincial draw venue this year.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) ran two targeted Employer Job Offer draws on April 30, 2026, issuing a combined 997 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to candidates already living in Canada on a valid work or study permit and holding a job offer in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with 720 invitations going to the Foreign Worker stream at a minimum score of 57 and 277 going to the International Student stream at a minimum score of 81; this is only the OINP's second GTA-focused round of 2026, comes 566 ITAs higher than the March 25 GTA draw and at noticeably lower cutoff scores in both streams, and arrives against the backdrop of a 14,119-nomination 2026 allocation from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that the province must work through before sweeping amendments to the Ontario Immigration Act take effect on May 30, 2026 and abolish all current nomination categories, while invited candidates and their employers face tight 14-day and 17-day windows to file their respective parts of the application before any nomination can be advanced to IRCC for permanent residence.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held a new Express Entry round on April 27, 2026, issuing 473 invitations to apply (ITAs) to candidates already holding a provincial nomination, with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 795 and a profile-creation cut-off of 11:11 p.m. UTC on April 13, 2026. This was the 23rd Express Entry selection of 2026, bringing the year's total to 65,627 ITAs, with Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws now numbering nine — the highest count of any draw type — and continuing to share top billing with the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Read alongside Ottawa's 2026 Immigration Levels Plan, which lifts the PNP target from roughly 55,000 in 2025 to 91,500, the latest round further confirms IRCC's broader strategy of prioritizing in-Canada candidates with provincial nominations and Canadian work experience.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) held its second draw of 2026 targeting international student graduates on April 22, issuing a total of 918 invitations to apply (ITAs) to candidates who completed a master's or doctoral degree at an Ontario university — 674 under the Master's Graduate Stream at a minimum score of 61, and 244 under the PhD Graduate Stream at a minimum score of 56. Compared with the program's March 18 draw, cut-off scores climbed sharply in both streams (up 31 points for master's and 7 points for PhD), a jump industry observers attribute not to a policy tightening but to a surge of high-scoring candidates entering the pool after the previous round. The April 22 draw was also notably broader in scope: unlike the NOC-targeted March 18 round, it imposed no specific National Occupational Classification experience requirement. All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of the deepest restructuring of the OINP in over a decade — the nine existing application categories are scheduled to be formally revoked on May 30, 2026, and replaced by four consolidated pathways (Employer: Job Offer, Priority Healthcare, Entrepreneur, and Exceptional Talent), giving eligible graduates a narrow closing window in which to act on an ITA.

The Government of Saskatchewan has released first-quarter data for the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), showing that as of April 21, 2026, the province has issued 1,223 nominations — roughly 26 percent of its 4,761-nomination annual allocation — leaving 3,538 spots to be distributed over the remainder of the year; against the backdrop of Ottawa's sweeping 50 percent cut to all Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) in 2025, Saskatchewan's 2026 allocation sits at only about 60 percent of the roughly 8,000 nominations the province received in 2024, prompting a structural overhaul that slices the annual quota into "priority sectors," "capped sectors" and "other sectors," with capped trades such as accommodation and food services, retail and trucking now managed through a fixed-window intake schedule; Q1 figures show the seven priority sectors — healthcare, agriculture, skilled trades, mining, manufacturing, energy and technology — moving fastest, using up 29 percent of their internal allocation and accounting for more than half of all nominations issued so far, while the capped retail, trade and other services sector leads usage in its category at 31 percent, followed by accommodation and food services at 26 percent and trucking at 19 percent, with non-priority, non-capped "other sectors" sitting at 19 percent overall; the next capped-sector intake window opens on May 4, 2026, on a first-come, first-served basis.

British Columbia held its latest Entrepreneur Immigration (EI) selection round on April 14, 2026, issuing 14 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) through the Base stream of the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) with a minimum qualifying score of 115 — two points lower than the March 10, 2026 Base-stream draw and the largest standalone EI round the province has run so far this year. With six entrepreneur draws and at least 41 ITAs now issued in 2026 under a federal 2026 allocation of 5,254 nomination spaces (up roughly 31% from BC's initial 4,000-spot allotment in 2025 but still below what the province requested), BC PNP continues to focus on business candidates expected to generate high economic impact in the province.

On April 15, 2026, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) held two back-to-back draws under its Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills stream, issuing a combined 1,334 invitations to apply (ITAs) to candidates with qualifying job offers in either agriculture-related occupations or other priority occupations, of which 315 invitations (minimum score 35) went to agriculture candidates and 1,024 (minimum score 36) went to non-agriculture priority occupation candidates — approximately 77% of the total; the two draws together targeted 39 National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes and required candidates to be residing in Canada with a valid work or study permit at the time of selection, with eligible profiles having been created and attested to no earlier than July 2, 2025 and no later than 11:59 p.m. on April 13, 2026, marking OINP's third round of selections in April; notably, OINP is expected to undergo a major program overhaul on May 30, 2026 that will revoke existing applicant categories and consolidate the three current Employer Job Offer streams into a single unified stream, though the province has yet to clarify how existing candidates will be transitioned.

Prince Edward Island's Office of Immigration held its fourth provincial nominee draw of 2026 on April 16, issuing 127 invitations — the largest single round of the year so far. The draw was conducted through the Labour Impact and PEI Express Entry pathways, the only two streams the province has used this year, and focused on candidates currently working in Prince Edward Island (PEI) in priority occupations and sectors deemed to have high economic impact. International graduates from three local post-secondary institutions — the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), Holland College and Collège de l'Île — were given further priority. With this round, PEI has now issued a total of 363 invitations under the Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP) in 2026. The draw took place on the exact date listed in the province's publicly released invitation schedule. Candidates who receive an invitation now have 30 calendar days — down from the previous 60-day window — to file a complete application for provincial nomination.