Proof of funds and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) under Express Entry
Do you need to provide proof of funds for a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) under Express Entry?
It depends. You will not have to provide proof of funds if you meet the program eligibility for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or if you are authorized to work and have an offer of arranged employment. There is a precise definition of an offer of arranged employment. A simple job offer from your employer is likely not an offer of arranged employment.
As discussed below, even if there is no requirement to provide proof of funds, it could be helpful to provide proof of funds if you qualify for CEC and meet another program eligibility, like the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).
When do you need to show Proof of Funds for PNP?
When you qualify for a Provincial Nominee Program, the nomination confirmation will be sent directly to your online IRCC account. At this time, you will receive an additional 600 CRS points. You will most likely receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) at the next eligible round of invitations since your overall CRS score will be very high.
When you receive your ITA, it will indicate that you are being invited “to apply for permanent residence under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).” You have 60 days to submit a completed application. They do not give extensions. This is why we recommend properly preparing your Express Entry profile and ensuring that your documents are valid and sufficient from the start.
When you apply for permanent residence with a PNP under EE, you must demonstrate that you meet the program requirements of one federal immigration program, such as CEC, FSWP, or FSTP.
Your online IRCC account will tell you which program requirements you meet based on the information provided when you created and submitted your Express Entry profile. You cannot apply for Express Entry if you do not meet at least one program requirement. As noted above, your ITA indicates that you are invited under PNP. You need to check your online IRCC account to verify what program requirements you meet (i.e. CEC, FSWP, FSTP).
If you meet the program requirements for CEC or if you have an offer of arranged employment, you will not have to provide proof of funds.
If you meet the program requirements for FSW or FST and do not have an offer of arrangement, you will need to provide proof of funds.
What if I meet more than one program requirement?
You should provide supporting documents for all programs. This includes proof of funds.
Commonly, individuals with Canadian work experience and foreign work experience will meet the program requirements for CEC and FSW. Check your online IRCC account.
The program delivery instructions indicate that the processing office should assess the PNP applicants for federal programs in the following order:
CEC
FSTP
FSWP
If you fail to meet the eligibility under CEC, they will consider FSTP and then FSWP.
It could be beneficial to provide proof of funds if you meet the program requirements for CEC and FSWP. If the processing office finds that you are not eligible for CEC, they will assess your application under the FSTP and then FSWP. If you do not provide proof of funds under FSWP, you will not have met the eligibility requirements and the visa officer will not assess your profile under FSWP. However, if you provide proof of funds just in case your application is rejected under CEC, you will have a chance to be eligible under the FSWP.
Consider the following example. Alex worked in his home country for ten years in a NOC B position. In addition, he worked in Canada for two years. His Express Entry profile declares that his Canadian work experience is a NOC A. Let’s assume that he has a CRS score of 400 and is eligible for CEC and FSW.
After being nominated for a PNP, his CRS score is 1000, and he receives an invitation to apply. At the time of this application, he does not provide proof of funds since this is not required for CEC.
When processing his application for permanent residency, the immigration officer believes that his Canadian work experience is a NOC C. As such, he is not eligible for Express Entry under the CEC. He needed work experience in a NOC skill level 0, A or B to be eligible.
The immigration officer proceeds to assess his eligibility under the FSWP. However, the immigration officer found that he was not eligible since he did not provide proof of funds. The immigration officer proceeds to reject the application for permanent residence.
Assuming that he met all other requirements for the FSWP, Alex would have been eligible for Express Entry under the FSWP if he had provided proof of funds at the time of this application. His application would not have been rejected for lack of proof of funds.
I am eligible for CEC, but my online account says to upload proof of funds
IRCC has acknowledged that individuals who do not need to provide proof of funds will nevertheless be asked to do so in their online accounts. If you do not need to provide proof of funds, “you must upload a letter explaining either that you have been invited to apply under the Canadian Experience Class, or that you have a valid job offer.” By job offer, they mean “an offer of arranged employment” under the Ministerial Instructions (see above).
For PNP, you have not been invited to apply under the CEC class. However, you would explain that you meet the CEC program requirements and do not have to provide proof of funds.
If you meet the program requirements for more than one program, you will explain that you do not need to provide proof of funds since you meet eligibility for CEC, and you want your permanent residence application to be processed under CEC. However, you are providing proof of funds since you meet the program requirement of FSWP and want them to assess your application under FSWP if you do not meet the program requirements for CEC. In this case, you would provide proof of funds in your online account and explain this in your letter of explanation.
More information on proof of funds, amounts, and supporting documents can be found here.
A word of caution
This blog only discusses proof of funds in the Express Entry context after an applicant has received a nomination from a province. Various PNP programs have their respective proof of funds requirements to be eligible and obtain a nomination.
This blog is legal information. It is not legal advice. Please book a consultation if you want to speak to me about your application and receive legal advice. It would be my pleasure to assist you by answering your questions, providing legal advice, and working together to prepare your Express Entry application properly.
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About the author:
Mark Holthe
Canadian Immigration Lawyer, CEO
