{"id":95086,"date":"2022-01-27T14:24:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T19:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/prince-edward-island-fights-against-perception-that-immigrants-do-not-stay"},"modified":"2022-01-27T14:24:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T19:24:19","slug":"prince-edward-island-fights-against-perception-that-immigrants-do-not-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/prince-edward-island-fights-against-perception-that-immigrants-do-not-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Edward Island Fights Against Perception That Immigrants Do Not Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Immigration officials on Prince Edward Island are fighting back against the perception that newcomers to Canada just don\u2019t like to stay in their Atlantic Canadian province.<\/p>\n

A Statistics Canada report indicates Prince Edward Island had the lowest level of immigrant retention in the country in 2019.<\/p>\n

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That means that of all the provinces with immigrants who arrived in 2014, Prince Edward Island had managed to retain the smallest percentage of them five years later, with only 28.1 per cent of them choosing to remain in the province.<\/p>\n

Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta Boast Top Immigrant Retention<\/h3>\n

The provinces who are tops in retaining immigrants are Ontario, with a 93.7 per cent five-year retention rate, British Columbia at 89.7 per cent, and Alberta at 89 per cent.<\/p>\n

A month after that Statistics Canada data was released, though, Island immigration officials are claiming it paints an inaccurate picture of immigration to Prince Edward Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you’re looking at that five-year retention rate you are looking at programs that, in some cases, don’t even exist anymore,\u00a0\u00bb Jeff Young, director at the province\u2019s Office of Immigration, reportedly told the CBC.<\/p>\n

The immigration official notes that Prince Edward Island has made many changes to its immigration programs over the years and the economic programs now in place have a much-higher retention rate.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0We’re focusing on helping employers fill labour gaps, labour shortages. Our programs are helping employers meet those labour shortages,\u00a0\u00bb he reportedly said.<\/p>\n

Certainly, there have been changes to immigration programs in Atlantic Canada in the eight years since 2014.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Atlantic Immigration Pilot<\/span><\/a> (AIP), a program that attracted more than 10,000 new permanent residents to the four Atlantic Canadian provinces in only a few years, was only introduced in 2017 and was made permanent starting this year.<\/p>\n

Among other things, the AIP boasts a much-higher retention rate. More than 90 per cent of the applicants who immigrated through it were still living in the Atlantic Canadian region a year later.<\/p>\n

Atlantic Immigration Pilot Boosts Immigration To Prince Edward Island<\/h3>\n

\u201cOver the past few years, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot has made an incredible difference in communities across our region,\u201d said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has brought us the resource we need most: more people. They\u2019re skilled, they\u2019re young and they\u2019re staying. Now, we\u2019re doubling down on what works by making it permanent, so we can continue attracting the best and brightest to our region and build a vibrant, prosperous future for Atlantic Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince Edward Island has been steadily increasing the share of immigrants who come to its shores through economic immigration programs which also have a higher retention rate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic, 91.2 per cent of new permanent residents to Prince Edward Island arrived under economic programs and that share only grew more pronounced in 2021 with these programs accounting for almost 93 per cent of new permanent residents to the province in the first nine months of the year.<\/p>\n

By ensuring newcomers to Prince Edward Island come with jobs in hand, Young says the province is gradually seeing its retention rate improve.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0If you look at our one- and two-year retention rates, I believe they are up about 70 per cent by now,\u00a0\u00bb he reportedly said.<\/p>\n

Provincial Nomination Adds 600 Points To Express Entry CRS Score<\/h3>\n

Through its Provincial Nominee Program<\/span><\/a>, Prince Edward Island provides many opportunities for foreign nationals to immigrate to the province.<\/p>\n

Under its Express Entry<\/span><\/a> category of immigration programs, the province considers candidates already in the\u00a0federal Express Entry Pool\u00a0for provincial nomination.<\/p>\n

Such a nomination adds 600 points to a candidate\u2019s\u00a0Comprehensive Ranking System\u00a0<\/span><\/a>(CRS) score and effectively guarantees an\u00a0Invitation to Apply<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(ITA) for Canadian immigration.<\/p>\n

Applicants for immigration under Prince Edward Island\u2019s Express Entry system need, though, to meet the requirements of one of the federal economic immigration programs:<\/p>\n