Immigration to Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories has worker pathways for people with NWT job offers and for bilingual French-English applicants. The NTNP can cover TEER 0-5 jobs, which makes it wider than many PNPs. Demand is strongest in mining, government, health care, and Yellowknife-area services.
Northwest Territories Nominee Program (NTNP) streams
We cover 2 NTNP streams. Each links to a detailed page with eligibility criteria, documents, and processing times.
New to provincial programs? Read our plain-English guide to PNPs.
Employer-Driven Stream
The NWT Employer-Driven Stream allows NWT employers to hire and nominate foreign nationals for permanent residency when no Canadians or Canadian permanent residents are available to fill the job. I…
Francophone Stream
The Francophone Stream allows qualified foreign nationals who speak both French and English and have a valid job offer from an NWT employer to apply to the Northwest Territories Nominee Program (NT…
Where Northwest Territories is actually hiring
The sectors that drive Northwest Territories's immigrant recruitment — and the occupations consistently in demand.
Mining (diamonds, gold, rare earths)
Diamond mines (Ekati, Diavik, Gahcho Kué) and emerging rare-earth operations drive consistent NWT mining-sector employment. Skilled trades, engineers, and heavy-equipment operators qualify under the Employer-Driven Skilled Worker sub-pathway.
Government and indigenous services
The Government of NWT and Indigenous governments are major employers — administrative, social-services, education, and policy roles routinely flow through the NTNP.
Healthcare (chronic shortage)
Northern healthcare is severely understaffed — nurses, paramedics, allied health, and physicians are recruited internationally year-round. Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife is the major facility.
Tourism, hospitality, and aurora
Aurora-viewing tourism, particularly out of Yellowknife, drives demand for hospitality, customer-service, and tour-operator roles — TEER 4/5 occupations covered under the Employer-Driven Entry Level/Semi-Skilled sub-pathway.
Northwest Territories immigration — questions
How many NTNP streams are there?+
Three total: Employer-Driven (TEER 0–5 with 3 sub-pathways), Francophone (bilingual French + English, any TEER), and Business (entrepreneur stream, not covered here). The two worker streams accept TEER 4/5 in addition to TEER 0–3, which is unusual among Canadian PNPs.
Is the NTNP currently accepting applications?+
The 2025 intake closed mid-year after reaching the 300-nomination federal cap. The 2026 intake will reopen — exact dates haven't been announced. Eligibility framework is expected to remain the same.
What makes the NTNP Francophone Stream distinctive?+
It accepts ANY TEER level (0–5), including entry-level roles — most PNPs restrict to TEER 0–3 or TEER 4–5 specifically. The trade-off is that you must demonstrate both French AND English language proficiency.
Is Northwest Territories a fit for you?
Free, email required. About 5–10 minutes. We'll check your profile against Northwest Territories's 2 NTNP streams plus the broader programs we cover.