New Brunswick Holds First 2025 Immigration Draws, Invites 498 Candidates

New Brunswick conducted its first Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) draws of 2025 on March 5 and 6, issuing a total of 498 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to candidates under two key pathways of the New Brunswick Skilled Worker stream. The draws focused on addressing labor shortages in healthcare, education, social services, and construction trades — sectors that are crucial to the province’s economic growth.

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Targeted Pathways and Occupations

Candidates were invited under the following two pathways:

• New Brunswick Skilled Worker – New Brunswick Experience Pathway – For individuals already working full-time in the province for at least six months.
• New Brunswick Skilled Worker – New Brunswick Graduates Pathway – For international graduates with a valid post-graduate work permit (PGWP) and a job offer from an eligible employer.

The province focused on high-demand occupations, including healthcare workers (nurses, support workers), educators, social service providers, and construction trades (carpenters, electricians).

Changes to New Brunswick Immigration in 2025

New Brunswick has received an allocation of 2,750 immigration spots in 2025 — 1,500 under the NBPNP and 1,250 under the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP). Significant changes to the NBPNP include:

• New Brunswick Express Entry Stream – The program now accepts applications under the Employment in New Brunswick and New Brunswick Interests pathways. However, the New Brunswick Student Connection pathway has been discontinued.
• New Brunswick Strategic Initiative Stream – Paused for 2025 due to high application volumes.
• New Brunswick Skilled Worker Stream – Now includes a third pathway, the New Brunswick Priority Occupations pathway, which targets high-demand jobs from government-led recruitment missions.

Certain occupations, such as administrative assistants, cooks, retail managers, and food service workers, have been excluded from eligibility under the updated program.

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New Brunswick’s revised immigration strategy reflects the province’s focus on attracting skilled talent to support its economic and labor market needs.