Letters of Advice to Apply: Some nominated and others refused

by Michael Scott

It is June 2026 and a good time to take stock of the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. The MPNP has long been one of the most active provincial nominee programs and continues as such to this day. In a recent article of Canada Immigration News, Caroline Minks presents a review of Manitoba’s 11th immigration selection round of 2026 and provides an update on the current practice of the MPNP. Her observations are timely and provide applicants and observers both with food for thought.

Manitoba’s 11th provincial immigration draw of 2026 took place on June 4, 2026. The MPNP issued 104 Letters of Advice to Apply (LAAs) under the Skilled Worker Stream rather than the general Expression of Interest (EOI) submission. The 104 LAAs were distributed as follows: Employer Services 40 invitations, Temporary Public Policy 39 invitations, Francophone Community 17 invitations, Ethnocultural Communities six invitations, and Regional Communities. two invitations.

The LAAs issued explain much about the assessment of online submissions as well as the steps the process takes. It is important for users and interested parties to understand the process and the way in which MPNP fulfills its responsibilities to administer the program for the benefit of the province and to maintain a high level of professionalism and due diligence to their task of selecting the best applicants for Manitoba.

The LAAs were issued from the existing inventories of Expressions of Interest from both pathways of the Skilled Worker Stream: Skilled Workers in Manitoba and Skilled Workers Overseas. Applicants were required to list if they had received an invitation through a recruitment mission overseas or through the Temporary Public Policy to Facilitate Work Permits for Prospective Provincial Candidates (TPP). Of the LAA letters, 38.5 per cent were chosen from the Employer Services Initiative and 37.5 per cent came from the TPP.

The MPNP clarified that 15 of the 104 LAA’s issued came from candidates who declared a valid Express Entry number and a job seeker validation code. Some candidates who listed an approved third-party English or French language in their EOI profiles failed to provide evidence or their language results had already expired. The MPNP also confirms that others who were excluded had been issued a strategic initiative but failed to provide a valid invitation number. The MPNP also confirmed that TPP work permit holders required Manitoba Support Letters that were approved after June 30, 2025, may not have received an LAA yet. As of June 4, the MPNP had issued 1,709 LAAs this year from the Skilled Worker Stream. Applicants must heed the need to include all required documents in their submission and to comply within the time frames required.

The MPNP provincial immigration program activity can be measured by EOI draws, nominations issued, nomination applications received, nominations not resolved but currently in assessment or pending assessment, and finally nominations refused. EOI monthly draws, which included an invitation to apply, from the first five months of the current year, include January, 102, February, 101, March, 60, and April, 340. The total EOI issued to date is 603;

Manitoba has made a number of nominations to date. The numbers would be taken from the 6,239 allocations from the federal government. The monthly breakdown of nominations include: January 484, February 425, March 389, and April 445. The total nominations issued to date is 1,743;

The MPNP received the following number of applications by month: January, 292; February, 237; March, 105; and April, 109. The year-to-date total of applications received is 743;

Some applications have been issued to an assessment officer but have not progressed to a final decision. Based on the monthly number the applications in assessment, or pending assessment, include the following: January, 2,605; February, 2,355; March, 2030; and April, 1,014. The number total of applications under active assessment is 8,004.

No overview would be complete without a report of nominations refused. A number of applicants who received an LAA and responded were refused. The actual numbers of nomination refusals reported by the MPNP include: January, 95; February, 38; March, 35; and April, 95. The total of refused nominations for the first four months is 263.

Our hope is that this overview helped explain the MPNP assessment process to clear up some confusion and misunderstandings. My sympathies for those who placed their hope in their submission but suffered a refusal at the end. It is unfortunate for applicants to go through the system for several months and yet end in a refusal. Effort and time are not the key factors. It is important for each refused applicant to understand what they did not do correctly and why they were refused. There was something done incorrectly or something missed or something misunderstood. The fault is not bad luck but an error in what was done or not done by the applicant themselves. They need to understand the sage advice of the English playwright William Shakespeare, who explained in his play Julius Caesar: “The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

Michael Scott is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC, R525678) who has 30 years of experience with Immigration Canada and the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. He currently works as a licensed consultant with Immigration Connexion International Ltd. Contact him at 204-691-1166 or 204-227-0292. E-mail: mscott.ici@gmail.com.