On December 1, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada released a new document check-list for people intending to apply for permanent residency as provincial nominees. Gone are the days when a province’s nomination certificate demonstrated that an individual could establish themselves economic establishment in Canada. Now, in addition to the nomination certificate, applicants will have to submit copies of educational diplomas and transcripts, as well as reference letters from all employers for the past ten years.
Sections 3.6-3.8 of Annex B of the Canada – British Columbia Immigration Agreement states that:
3.6 Canada agrees to process economic class applicants nominated for permanent resident status by British Columbia on a priority basis and as expeditiously as possible with a view to achieving Canada’s annual levels plan.
3.7 Canada will consider a nomination certificate issued by British Columbia as evidence that British Columbia has conducted due diligence in exercising its authority to assess and nominate candidates pursuant to section 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 of this Annex.
Section 3.8 goes on to note, however, that Canada retains the right to substitute a negative evaluation if it disagrees with the province’s assessment. It states:
3.8 British Columbia is responsible for conducting the due diligence to ensure that the applicant has the ability and is likely to become economically established in British Columbia. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Canada retains the right to substitute its evaluation of the applicant’s ability to become economically established in Canada pursuant to subsection 87(3) of the IRPR. In exercising its responsibilities under sectionsC.2 and C.4 of Appendix C of this Annex, Canada may also seek clarification from British Columbia on its assessment, the record of which is required under sections 3.4 and 5.3.4 of this Annex. The visa officer may request additional documentation from the nominee which supports the nominee’s ability and likelihood to become economically established in British Columbia.
The new check-list suggests that Citizenship and Immigration Canada will now automatically be asking for additional documentation from all nominees to show that they are likely to become economically established in British Columbia.
So the questions have to be asked.. does Citizenship and Immigration Canada no longer think that BC is conducting proper due diligence? And, are we about to see a wave of negative substituted evaluations?
On February 26th, 2011, Christy Clark won a hotly contested contest for the leadership of the B.C. Liberal Party. This means that she will become Premier within the next couple weeks. While it is unclear whether she can help the Liberals improve in the polls, or even if she can keep the coalition that is the Liberal Party together, judging from her previous tenure as Education Minister and Deputy Premier, she is likely to move forward swiftly with her priorities. 
When the federal immigrant investor program closed, and it became common knowledge that program requirement were doubling, lawyers and consultants began looking at other programs for their clients. Evidently, they found the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program for Business (MPNP-B) to be the most attractive.
During the past couple months, our office has received several frantic phone calls from people (often real estate agents or bankers) telling us that a family who was immigrating to Canada under a Provincial Nominee Program was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency when they arrived in Canada, that they were informed that their permanent resident visas were being revoked, and that they had to leave Canada as soon as possible, if not immediately. 