What Provincial Nomination Points Actually Commit You To
Our additional-points article covers the full list of CRS bonuses; this one exists because the biggest bonus on that list — the provincial nomination — gets discussed almost entirely in terms of what it gives you, and almost never in terms of what it asks of you in return. That’s the part worth spelling out.
The headline number
Just how many CRS points is a provincial nomination worth? Six hundred — enough, on its own, to clear virtually every draw cut-off that’s run in the past several years. Get a nomination and an invitation follows at the next relevant round. In that sense, yes, it’s close to a guarantee.
What it doesn’t guarantee
A nomination guarantees an invitation to apply for permanent residence. It does not guarantee the final approval — you still need to pass the standard admissibility, medical and background checks that apply to every applicant. It also doesn’t happen instantly: you first need to qualify for and be nominated under a specific provincial stream, which is its own separate application with its own criteria, before the CRS bonus ever applies.
The commitment nobody spells out clearly
So what do you commit to with a provincial nomination? Here’s the part that gets buried under the excitement of the points bump: the nomination is explicitly tied to the nominating province. You’re not agreeing to move to Canada in general — you’re agreeing to settle and work in that specific province. Provinces nominate candidates because they want them living and working there.
This isn’t a minor formality. If your actual intention is to live in Ontario but you accept a nomination from a smaller province because the points are too good to pass up, you’re making a real commitment that doesn’t match your actual plan — and one that provincial programmes are increasingly attentive to, given how competitive nominations have become.
How long a nomination lasts
A nomination is valid for a limited window before it expires, and if you don’t submit your permanent residence application within that window, you may need to reapply. This detail matters more than it sounds — a nomination earned early doesn’t sit indefinitely as a banked asset. Check the specific validity period stated by the nominating province, since it’s set at the provincial level rather than uniformly.
Is it worth the trade-off?
For a candidate whose CRS score genuinely wouldn’t clear a general or category cut-off any other way, and who has a realistic willingness to settle in the nominating province, a nomination is often the most direct route available — particularly with national PNP allocations tightened in recent years, making nominations themselves harder to secure than the points bonus alone would suggest.
For a candidate chasing the points without genuine intent to live where the nomination requires, it’s worth being honest with yourself before applying. The mismatch tends to surface eventually, and provincial programmes exist to serve the province’s own labour needs.
The one-sentence version
Six hundred points is real, and so is the province you’re agreeing to call home in exchange for them — weigh both before you apply, not just the one that shows up in your score.
Our free guide to Provincial Nominee Programs covers how individual provincial streams work, including eligibility and the application process behind the nomination itself.