N.W.T. nominee program changes selection process for upcoming intake

The N.W.T. is changing the rules for this year's intake of the territory's nominee program.

It's an immigration program that allows the N.W.T. government to nominate foreign nationals for permanent residency who intend to live and work in the territory and who help meet labour market needs by filling jobs that employers haven’t been able to fill with Canadians.

The federal immigration department allocated 197 spots for the N.W.T. nominee program this year. The program website states that most applicants to the program have already lived and worked in the N.W.T. for at least a year.

Caitlin Cleveland, the N.W.T.'s minister of education, culture and employment, said this year will look different for applicants and employers because of a new expression of interest system.

“The changes we are introducing to the nominee program for 2026 reflect a clear decision to focus on what can be approved now, including fairness, transparency and stronger alignment with territorial labour market needs and economic drivers,” she said.

Employers will now submit expressions of interest on behalf of the person they wish to nominate. The nominee in turn completes a survey that provides the N.W.T. government with profiles of foreign national applicants. 

Those profiles are then assigned a score “using a points-based system that considers factors such as work experience and the N.W.T.’s labour market needs, education, language skills and connection to the N.W.T.,” a territorial government news release said. 

There are several streams with which nominees can apply: the employer-driven, which is for employers who want to hire and nominate foreign nationals, as well as a francophone stream for people who speak English and French and have a job offer from an N.W.T. employer.

Those streams will open March 9 and the first expression of interest draw will take place March 25. Employers of the highest ranking applicants will then be invited to submit an application, which will then be assessed in the order which they are received.

“For the first draw, up to 65 eligible applicants will be selected and invited to submit an applicant. Information on the number of applicants selected as well as the range of scores will be shared online,” the press release states.

Erin Evans, manager of labour market programs for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the points focus on language, age, work experience and education.

“It will also be focusing on connections to the N.W.T. labour market such as the type of job ... [and] adaptability to the Northwest Territories, such as if you attended a school here or if you have family,” she said.

Last year took many program applicants by surprise when the N.W.T.’s allocation was cut from 300 to 150 spots. It was eventually restored to 300 after months of back and forth with the federal government.

To deal with the cuts, applications were restricted to candidates that had at least a year of work experience, employers were limited to the number of applications they could submit, and the applications were pre-screened then randomly selected.