Provincial Nomination Application Still Fees Compared Across Canada
$1,750 versus zero. That’s the actual spread between two provinces’ provincial nomination fees right now, and it’s the kind of number a general “budget for PNP costs” guide tends to flatten out of existence. Here’s a provincial nomination application fees compared briefing built from the figures that are actually published, not estimated.
British Columbia: the most expensive confirmed fee, and it just rose
BC’s Skills Immigration application fee increased from $1,475 to $1,750, effective 22 January 2026. That’s a jump of nearly $300 in one step, and it applies to the province’s core Skilled Worker and Health Authority streams. If you’ve been working off older SA-focused budgeting content, a bc skills immigration fee increase 2026 walkthrough like this one is worth checking against before you set aside savings, because plenty of guides online still quote the pre-2026 number.
Prince Edward Island: a flat, modest fee
PEI’s official January 2026 Workforce Application Guide sets a straightforward pei workforce application fee of $300 CAD for its Workforce streams — Skilled Worker, Critical Worker, Intermediate Experience and the rest sit under that same figure. Where an employer needs to bring on a worker via a work permit, PEI also requires that employer to register with the federal Employer Portal and pay a separate $230 compliance fee — a cost that sits with the employer, not the candidate, and is easy to miss if you’re only reading the candidate-facing guide.
Newfoundland and Labrador: nothing at all
The province’s newfoundland pnp application fee waiver december 2025 took effect that day, wiping out its provincial application fees outright — about as blunt a cost advantage as any province offers in this comparison — for a candidate weighing options on a tight budget, it’s a genuine point in NL’s favour, separate entirely from how competitive or occupation-specific its priority list is.
The provinces that don’t publish a comparable number
Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Yukon and the Northwest Territories don’t carry a directly comparable published application fee in the material this briefing draws on. That’s not the same as “free” — it more likely means the fee sits inside a different part of the process, or simply hasn’t been centrally documented the way BC’s, PEI’s and NL’s have. Rather than guess at a number for those provinces, the honest move is to check the current fee schedule on that specific province’s own application portal before you budget around it.
What this means for planning
A fee comparison this uneven says something useful on its own: don’t assume every province charges roughly the same amount, and don’t assume the fee is even the biggest cost in the process — document assessments, language tests, and travel usually dwarf the application fee itself regardless of which province you choose. Treat this as one line item, checked at the source, not the whole budget.
If you’re trying to work out what a specific application will cost you end to end, that’s a calculation worth running past a licensed RCIC alongside the province’s own published numbers. Treat this provincial nomination application fees compared briefing as a starting point, not a final figure — fees change (as BC’s just did), and a snapshot like this one will eventually be out of date.