Manitoba has wasted no time in opening the door to new immigrants in 2026. In a draw held on 15 January 2026, the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) issued 55 Letters of Advice to Apply (LAAs) through its Skilled Worker in Manitoba and Skilled Worker Overseas streams. Although modest in size, the draw is significant because it signals that Manitoba will continue using the nominees-per-year allocation it negotiated with Ottawa to target very specific labour shortages. In this round, candidates were required to have been “directly invited” by the province as part of a strategic recruitment initiative—a mechanism that allows Manitoba officers to search the federal Express Entry pool for foreign talent with precisely the skills regional employers need. (cicnews.com)
Context matters. Manitoba typically exhausts its nomination spaces each year—inviting more than 7,700 candidates in 2025 alone—so an early-January draw helps the province get ahead of the competition from larger programs in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. It also underscores the province’s growing reliance on immigration to offset chronic demographic pressures: Manitoba’s median age (38.3) is already below the national average, but retirements in health care, logistics and advanced manufacturing are accelerating.
Whether you’re an employer eager to onboard international talent or a skilled worker readying your Manitoba application, VisaHQ can simplify the process. Through its dedicated Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) the company offers step-by-step document checks, real-time status updates and concierge support that help applicants avoid costly mistakes and meet tight provincial deadlines.
![Manitoba launches first 2026 PNP draw, invites 55 skilled workers]()
For employers, the draw is good news. A provincial nomination effectively guarantees a candidate 600 additional Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points in the federal Express Entry system, translating into a near-certain invitation for permanent residence. Companies that participate in Manitoba’s recruitment missions can therefore fill critical roles far more quickly than by using the federal Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) route, where processing times for high-wage positions now average 50 business days.
For prospective immigrants, the bar remains high. The minimum EOI score in the Entrepreneur stream was 115 in the most recent BC draw; while Manitoba did not publish a comparable cut-off, past rounds suggest successful Skilled Worker candidates generally need a points score above 600 when provincial factors and human-capital criteria are combined. Candidates also need a settlement plan that demonstrates genuine ties to local communities—a requirement Manitoba enforces rigorously during the application review stage.
Looking ahead, observers expect Manitoba to hold occupation-specific draws focused on health care and construction in the first quarter, mirroring last year’s strategy. Candidates who missed this week’s selection should make sure their EOI profiles accurately reflect any Manitoba work experience or educational ties, as these factors continue to weigh heavily in the province’s scoring grid.
Context matters. Manitoba typically exhausts its nomination spaces each year—inviting more than 7,700 candidates in 2025 alone—so an early-January draw helps the province get ahead of the competition from larger programs in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. It also underscores the province’s growing reliance on immigration to offset chronic demographic pressures: Manitoba’s median age (38.3) is already below the national average, but retirements in health care, logistics and advanced manufacturing are accelerating.
Whether you’re an employer eager to onboard international talent or a skilled worker readying your Manitoba application, VisaHQ can simplify the process. Through its dedicated Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) the company offers step-by-step document checks, real-time status updates and concierge support that help applicants avoid costly mistakes and meet tight provincial deadlines.
For employers, the draw is good news. A provincial nomination effectively guarantees a candidate 600 additional Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points in the federal Express Entry system, translating into a near-certain invitation for permanent residence. Companies that participate in Manitoba’s recruitment missions can therefore fill critical roles far more quickly than by using the federal Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) route, where processing times for high-wage positions now average 50 business days.
For prospective immigrants, the bar remains high. The minimum EOI score in the Entrepreneur stream was 115 in the most recent BC draw; while Manitoba did not publish a comparable cut-off, past rounds suggest successful Skilled Worker candidates generally need a points score above 600 when provincial factors and human-capital criteria are combined. Candidates also need a settlement plan that demonstrates genuine ties to local communities—a requirement Manitoba enforces rigorously during the application review stage.
Looking ahead, observers expect Manitoba to hold occupation-specific draws focused on health care and construction in the first quarter, mirroring last year’s strategy. Candidates who missed this week’s selection should make sure their EOI profiles accurately reflect any Manitoba work experience or educational ties, as these factors continue to weigh heavily in the province’s scoring grid.
