PEIPrince Edward Island got more permanent residency nominations than it expected this year, after the federal government allowed the province an additional 575 nominees for 2025 through the Provincial Nominee Program and the Atlantic Immigration Program.Additional allotment brings province’s total for 2025 to 1,600 Jenna Banfield · CBC News · Posted: Dec 04, 2025 4:52 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.P.E.I. granted more permanent residency spots for 2025Despite Ottawa dropping the numbers for permanent residency nominations in 2025, Prince Edward Island ended up with the number it asked for. That’s because in October, more PR nominations were granted. CBC’s Tony Davis has more on what this will mean for industries who rely on the program.Prince Edward Island got more permanent residency nominations than it expected this year, after the federal government allowed the province an additional 575 nominees for 2025 through the Provincial Nominee Program and the Atlantic Immigration Program.The additional allotment, which the province received in October, brings P.E.I.’s total to 1,600 nominees. P.E.I.’s Office of Immigration says that is the exact number of spots it initially requested for the year.The move comes after Ottawa slashed the program’s total allotment by half earlier this year.Teresa Tu is the acting senior operations manager with the Office of Immigration and says the additional PR spots will focus on those working in industries facing labour shortages, and international student graduates.”We wanted to ensure that students who chose UPEI, Holland College, Collège de l’Île, who came here to study… [that] they launch their career after graduation,” she said. “We do give them the opportunity to continue to thrive in our community after graduation.”‘We did receive an additional allocation, which did bring us up to 1,600 which is aligning to what we had initially requested for 2025,’ says Teresa Tu, the acting senior operations manager with P.E.I.’s Office of Immigration. (Zoom)Tu adds that the office will keep working with employers, industry partners and the federal government to ensure the program is meeting the long term economic growth needs of the province.However, some in the construction industry say they did not hear about the increase until November.Sam Sanderson is the director of the Construction Association of P.E.I. and says he feels both the federal and provincial government need to engage more with industry leaders if the immigration strategy is focused on bringing skilled workers to P.E.I.”As we look at the [construction] industry itself, it’s in the most demand it’s ever been in before. But the demand is for skilled trades and you know, we talk about targeted immigration… [it’s] very important for Prince Edward Island and Canada as we continue building,” he said.The head of the Construction Association of P.E.I., Sam Sanderson, says the province and Ottawa need to engage better with industry leaders, especially if nominations are for skilled workers, like tradespeople. (Tony Davis/CBC)Sanderson says there is still interest in training locally for trades and there has been some effort to recruit soon-to-be graduates, but they aren’t seeing large numbers.Immigration strategy key for health-care sectorImmigration also plays a key role in the health-care sector, says the chairman of the Nursing Home Association of P.E.I., William McGuigan. In an emailed statement to CBC News, McGuigan said the Island has a small and aging population, and immigration helps keep resources in health care.”The Island is growing our capacity in [long term care] as well, so we will continue to see a demand for additional staff moving forward, so it is great to see the government taking these steps now in preparation,” he wrote.Sanderson said despite the news of additional permanent resident nominees, there is still a lot of work to do. “We look at our workforces in all sectors today, it takes more people to do the same amount of work one person did 10, 20 years ago just for a number of reasons, work-life balance and the ability, you know, [to raise] families. It’s just a different time…”Looking at the future, we need every resource that we can [get].”ABOUT THE AUTHORJenna Banfield is an associate producer for CBC Prince Edward Island. She can be reached at jenna.banfield@cbc.caWith files from Tony Davis and Thinh Nguyen
P.E.I. granted 575 additional permanent residency nominations this year
