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The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, usually shortened to SINP, is the province of Saskatchewan's own way of choosing immigrants. Saskatchewan does not grant permanent residence itself: only the federal government can do that. What the province does is "nominate" you, which means it tells the federal government that it wants you as a permanent resident, and that nomination is what your permanent residence application then rests on. If you have been searching for a way into Canada that does not depend on the high scores of the main federal system, or you already work or study in Saskatchewan, this is the program those searches lead to.
This post is for a skilled worker anywhere in the world who is weighing Saskatchewan as a destination, and for someone already in the province on a work permit or a study permit who wants to know whether their time there counts for anything. If you are new to Canadian immigration altogether, read our post on what the Provincial Nominee Program is first, then come back here.
Every province except Quebec runs a Provincial Nominee Program, a set of streams through which the province picks people it believes will settle and work there. Saskatchewan's is the SINP. The province describes the sequence in two steps on its how to apply page: it invites applications from people who want to make Saskatchewan their home, and it nominates the successful ones to the federal government for permanent residence. A nomination is not permanent residence. After you are nominated you must apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal immigration department, within six months, and IRCC runs its own health, security and criminal checks before it decides.
The SINP has two categories for workers, and the province names them on that same page: International Skilled Worker, for skilled workers who want to work and live in Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan Experience, for people who already live and work in the province. Each category holds several streams, which the province calls sub-categories. Below we take them one by one.
These streams are for people who are usually outside Saskatchewan. All three use the same points grid, explained further down, and all three require at least 60 points on it.
This stream is for a skilled worker who already has a job offer from a Saskatchewan employer. On the Employment Offer page the province asks for a permanent, full-time job offer in an occupation at TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 (TEER is the skill level built into Canada's occupation codes; our NOC and TEER post explains how to find yours), at least one year of work experience in that occupation within the past ten years, a language score of at least CLB 4 (the Canadian Language Benchmark, Canada's scale for English and French test results), and at least 60 points on the grid.
The job offer has to be approved by the province before you apply. Your employer registers with the SINP and obtains an Employer Position Assessment (EPA), which is the province's check of the job; you are then notified and have 10 days to log in and confirm the details. Two exclusions are stated on the page: truck drivers must use the Existing Work Permit stream instead, and health care occupations must use the Health Talent Pathway or the Students stream. Our post on which Canadian routes need a job offer covers where this stream sits among the others.
This stream is for a skilled worker who has no job offer in Saskatchewan but works in an occupation the province says it needs. The Occupations In-Demand page asks for at least 60 points out of 110 on the grid, CLB 4 or better, post-secondary education related to your occupation (with an educational credential assessment, or ECA, for any education completed outside Canada), and at least one year of full-time paid work in the past ten years in a TEER 0 to 3 occupation that is in demand in Saskatchewan and not on the province's Excluded Occupation List. You must also show settlement funds, the money you will live on while you look for work, and a settlement plan. You cannot apply directly: you first submit an expression of interest and wait to be invited, which we explain below.
This is the same idea as Occupations In-Demand, for a person who already has a profile in the federal Express Entry pool. Express Entry is the federal system that ranks skilled workers by a points score called the CRS; our Express Entry post explains it from scratch. The Saskatchewan Express Entry page asks for a valid Express Entry profile number and job seeker validation code, at least 60 points on the SINP grid, a language result that meets the federal Express Entry minimum, related post-secondary education with an ECA, experience in an occupation that is not on the Excluded Occupation List, and settlement funds plus a settlement plan. A nomination through this stream is what the PNP post calls an enhanced nomination: it is added to your Express Entry profile and raises your CRS score substantially.
Saskatchewan publishes the grid on its assess your eligibility page, and the pass mark is stated there in one sentence: "You need at least 60 points to apply." The grid totals 110 points and has two parts.
The first part, which the province calls labour market success, is worth up to 80 points and scores four things: your education and training, your skilled work experience in the five years before you apply and again in the six to ten years before that, your language ability in a first and, if you have one, a second official language, and your age. The second part, connection to Saskatchewan, is worth up to 30 points. For the Employment Offer stream that part is simply the job offer. For Occupations In-Demand and Saskatchewan Express Entry, which have no job offer, it is made up of a close relative in Saskatchewan, past work in Saskatchewan and past study in Saskatchewan. The province's own rule is that points you claim must be backed by documents attached to the application, or the application is closed and returned. We deliberately do not copy the row-by-row values here, because the province can change them; read them on the page linked above.
For the two streams without a job offer, a close relative is the single largest connection item on the grid. The province counts a relative who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident living in Saskatchewan and who is not supporting another family member's application at the time you apply. The eligible relationships are a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or first cousin, and step-family or in-laws of the same relationships. The relative can belong to you or to a spouse who is coming with you. The required documents listed on the Occupations In-Demand page show how seriously the province checks this: proof of the relationship, a copy of the relative's permanent resident or citizenship document, and proof that they have lived in Saskatchewan for the past twelve months and have their own income.
For Occupations In-Demand and Saskatchewan Express Entry you cannot simply apply. You first create an expression of interest (EOI), which the province's EOI system page describes as a pre-application: an online form where you state your interest and your qualifications. It goes into a pool, it stays valid for one year, and you may hold only one at a time.
The province then runs draws. In a draw it ranks the pool by the points score from the grid and invites the highest-ranked candidates to apply; that invitation is called an Invitation to Apply (ITA), and you then have 60 days to submit a complete application with all your documents. Where too many candidates share the same score, the page states the tie-break order: people with a connection to Saskatchewan are chosen first, then those with the most work experience and highest language scores. The province also says it may limit a selection to particular occupations, and that draw dates are not announced in advance. When we last checked, the page stated there were no scheduled draws. That is worth reading literally: an EOI is a place in a queue, not a promise.
This stream is for someone who has been working in Saskatchewan on a valid work permit. The Existing Work Permit page asks for a permanent, full-time job offer from a Saskatchewan employer backed by an EPA, and at least six months (780 hours) of full-time, unbroken work in that job with that employer. The job must be at TEER 0 to 3 or in a designated trade; holders of a work permit supported by an LMIA (a labour market impact assessment, the federal check an employer obtains before hiring from abroad), a Francophone Mobility permit or a CUAET permit may also apply in TEER 4 or 5 jobs, and a language test at CLB 4 is required only for those TEER 4 and 5 jobs. Two groups are excluded from this stream by name: holders of an open spousal work permit, and graduates on a post-graduation work permit, who are sent to the Students stream or the Employment Offer stream instead.
This is the province's route for health workers, and the Health Talent Pathway page lists the eligible occupations by NOC code, from physicians and nurses to pharmacy assistants and home support workers. You need a permanent, full-time job offer in one of them with an EPA, related post-secondary education with an ECA, and either six months of full-time work with that employer in Saskatchewan or one year of experience in the occupation within the past five years. The language minimum is CLB 5 for the standard route, and CLB 7 if you apply through its Express Entry option, which needs an Express Entry profile. Where the occupation is regulated in Saskatchewan you must also show you are eligible for the licence.
This stream is for someone who graduated from a designated learning institution (DLI, a school approved to host international students) in Saskatchewan. The Students page asks for a certificate, diploma or degree from a Saskatchewan DLI, a valid post-graduation work permit (or a study permit, if the job offer is in a priority sector), at least six months (780 hours) of paid work in Saskatchewan related to your field of study, which does not have to be full-time or continuous, and a permanent, full-time job offer in your field of study at TEER 0 to 3 or in a designated trade, again backed by an EPA. Graduates of schools outside Saskatchewan cannot use this stream, even if they now work in the province.
Saskatchewan changed how it hands out its nominations from 2025, and the current rules matter for anyone with a job offer. The province's immigration FAQs, updated 19 December 2025, set out the 2026 allocation of 4,761 nominations. At least half is reserved for seven priority sectors: healthcare, agriculture, skilled trades, energy, mining, manufacturing and technology. People whose employer is in one of those sectors can apply at any time and from overseas. Three sectors are capped at a quarter of the total between them, with accommodation and food services at 15 per cent, trucking at 5 per cent and retail trade at 5 per cent; employers in those sectors can submit an EPA only in scheduled intake windows, and only for a worker whose work permit has six months or less left. Within the priority-sector share, 750 nominations are reserved for graduates of Saskatchewan institutions who take a priority-sector job.
Two further restrictions from the same page catch people out. Holders of a post-graduation work permit may apply only through the Students, Health Talent, Agriculture Talent, Innovation and Tech Talent and Employment Offer streams. And for the two streams with no job offer, the province keeps an Excluded Occupation List of occupations it will not take through those streams at all. Check the current list before you count on either.
If you are comparing provinces, our post on Alberta's program is the natural next read, and the Canada hub shows every route the report covers.
Our report assesses each of the Saskatchewan streams above as its own Canada pathway, and shows that stream's requirements beside the answers you gave. For the three International Skilled Worker streams it works out your points on Saskatchewan's grid from your answers and carries a checklist step asking you to confirm that score and collect the documents that prove every point, because the province closes applications submitted without them. For Occupations In-Demand and Saskatchewan Express Entry it also carries a step asking you to confirm that the close relative you named meets the province's conditions before you rely on those points. It does not tell you whether you will be invited in a draw, and it does not predict when a draw will happen.
Read the Canada hub to see how Saskatchewan's streams sit among the other Canada routes, and when you are ready, answer the free questionnaire. It takes your education, work history, language results, age and family in Canada, and shows you which routes are worth your attention, the Saskatchewan streams among them.
Answer our free questionnaire and see your eligibility summary instantly. You only pay to unlock your full personalized immigration report.