NWT Skilled Worker: Northwest Territories Nominee Program Category

The Northwest Territories Nominee Program is the NWT's version of the Provincial Nominee Program. The federal government gives the territory a yearly number of nominations. A nomination lets you apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence (PR).

The NTNP has three streams: Employer-Driven, Francophone, and Business. The Employer-Driven Stream is the largest. It has three categories:

• Skilled Worker, for skilled jobs (this page).
• Entry Level/Semi-Skilled Occupations, for TEER 4 and 5 jobs.
• NWT Express Entry, for candidates in the federal Express Entry pool.

The Skilled Worker category covers jobs in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3. TEER means Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities. TEER 0 is management, TEER 1 usually needs a degree, and TEER 2 and 3 usually need college, an apprenticeship, or on-the-job training.

It is a base category, so your PR application goes to IRCC outside Express Entry. For the bigger picture, see our Northwest Territories guide.

Yes. The NTNP opened for 2026 on March 9, 2026, with a new Expression of Interest (EOI) system for the Employer-Driven Stream.

Each draw invites up to 65 candidates, as of September 2026. The NWT has not announced 2027 dates. Watch immigratenwt.ca for news.

In 2025 the program stopped taking applications once it had enough to fill its cap of 300. The 2026 EOI system replaced that first-come, first-served approach for this stream.

The NWT lists these core requirements for the Skilled Worker category. The full program guidelines on immigratenwt.ca have the details.

• A job offer from an NWT employer in a TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 occupation.
• One year of full-time experience in the same or a similar occupation within the last 10 years.
• A valid work permit.
• A minimum language result in English or French from an approved test. See our language tests guide and CLB converter.
• The training, experience and education to do the job described in the offer.

The employer also has obligations. The Employer-Driven Stream is for employers who want to hire and nominate a foreign national when no Canadian citizen or permanent resident is available for the job. The employer applies through the NTNP online portal.

Because you need a valid work permit, this category mostly helps people who are already working in Canada. If you are abroad, you would usually come first on a work permit, for example one backed by a Labour Market Impact Assessment.

An EOI is a profile, not an application. The NWT scores it and invites the top profiles in each draw. The government says the scores reflect three things: your skills and experience, your connections to the NWT, and how likely you are to settle in the territory.

CIC News reported these maximum points when the model was announced in February 2026:

Connections to the NWT carry by far the most weight. Working for your NWT employer now, and having lived in the territory, are likely to matter more than a high education score. Check the official points grid on immigratenwt.ca before you submit.

For this category, the NWT says the employers of the highest-scoring candidates are invited to submit an application to the program.

Once the NWT nominates you, you apply to IRCC for PR. IRCC checks your admissibility with a medical exam, police certificates and biometrics. Your spouse or partner and dependent children can be included.

Keep your work permit valid while you wait. Nominees may qualify for a bridging open work permit in some cases, and our guides on extending your status and maintained status explain your options. Check current IRCC processing times with our processing times tool.

If you are also in the Express Entry pool, NWT Express Entry usually means faster federal processing. Yukon has a similar category, the Yukon Skilled Worker stream.

If you have a refugee claim, a past refusal, or a criminal record, talk to a lawyer or licensed consultant (RCIC) before applying. Here is how to verify one.