How to Immigrate to Saskatchewan, Canada

Located in Western Canada, Saskatchewan is a beautiful prairie province. It is bordered by Alberta on the west, by Manitoba on the east, by the Northwest Territories on the north, and by Montana (USA) and Dakota (USA) on the south. Apart from Alberta, Saskatchewan is the only other landlocked Canadian province. But this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have resources – it is full of water bodies, food, and even fuel.

Why you should Immigrate to Saskatchewan

If there’s one thing you should know about Saskatchewan, it is that its economy is robust. For one, its unemployment rate is low, even in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in October 2020, Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate was at a mere 6.4% – the lowest figure for any province at the time.

What’s more? In November of 2021, the figure fell further to 5.2%. In that month alone, Saskatchewan added 5,500 full-time jobs to its economy. It’s therefore not surprising that Saskatchewan employers are constantly looking for new workers. And with the province’s economy expected to grow by 3.4% in 2022, we can only expect more opportunities in the future, many of which can be filled by immigrants.

Currently, Saskatchewan is already facing large labor shortages, particularly in the health, manufacturing, hospitality, construction, retail, agriculture, and ag-tech sector. This rampant labor shortage has forced Saskatchewan’s provincial government to even launch new immigration pathways.

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Easy Ways to Immigrate to Saskatchewan

If you’re interested in immigrating to Saskatchewan, you’re lucky – there are several ways to do this, all of which are under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP). These include:

• Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot

This is the most recently launched immigration stream under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Programme (SINP). Launched in November 2021, it provides Saskatchewan employers with a unique advantage – the ability to recruit through international recruitment activities like overseas missions. This program is designed to particularly help employers that are having difficulties filling select jobs.

One great thing about this immigration stream is that it doesn’t just deal with senior positions. On the contrary, it even accepts applications for entry-level jobs that are critical for business operation and may need on-the-job training.

To be eligible for the Saskatchewan Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot, you must:

• Have a full-time permanent job offer
• Have a SINP approval letter – it should be from a registered Saskatchewan employer and for an eligible occupation
• Meet a minimum language proficiency level in English or French
• Have at least one year of work experience in the same occupation as your job offer/have at least 6 months of work experience in the job in Saskatchewan

• International Skilled Worker Category

Traditionally the SINP has 3 main categories, each with its own subcategories. One of these categories is the International Skilled Worker Category. Its subcategories include:

• Saskatchewan Express Entry
• Occupation In-Demand
• Employment Offer

Interestingly, the first two sub-categories use an Expression of Interest system. Beyond that, the Saskatchewan Express Entry stream caters to those in the Federal Express Entry pool. On the other hand, the Employment Offer sub-category is for people who have Saskatchewan job offers in skilled occupations.

If you don’t have a job offer but have skills in an occupation that is in demand in Saskatchewan though, your best bet is the Occupation In-Demand stream.

• Saskatchewan Experience Category

The Saskatchewan Experience Category has 6 sub-categories:

• Long haul truck drivers
• Skilled worker with existing work permit
• Health professional
• Semi-skilled agriculture worker with existing work permit
• Hospitality sector pilot project
• Students 

To be eligible for the Skilled worker with existing work permit sub-category, you need to be a skilled worker with a valid permit who has been working in Saskatchewan for at least 6 months. Similarly, ideal applicants to the semi-skilled agriculture worker with existing work permit subcategory are workers with a valid permit who have been working in the province for at least 6 months.

On the other hand, the health professionals subcategory is a means by which healthcare professionals can apply to become permanent residents of Saskatchewan. There’s a catch though – they have to have been already working in the province for at least 6 months on a temporary work permit.

As for the students’ subcategory, it caters to students who have studied in either a Saskatchewan or Canadian post-secondary institution. As its name suggests, the long haul truck drivers category is for long haul-truckers who have been working in the country on a temporary permit and wish to transition into permanent residents.

Finally, the hospitality sector pilot project is designed for foreigners who have been working in Saskatchewan for more than 6 months as cleaning staff, food servers, and kitchen helpers. 

• Business immigration category

This immigration pathway has 4 streams:

• Entrepreneur
• International graduate entrepreneurs
• Young farmers
• Farm owners

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Of all these streams, only the last two cater for people who have farming experience and the financial means to buy or start farms in Saskatchewan. As for the entrepreneur stream, it is designed for applicants who have a minimum worth of $500,000 and are looking to buy or start a business in the province.

This stream is quite similar to the international graduate entrepreneurs one- the only major difference is that the latter is for international graduates of Saskatchewan post-secondary institutions.