Most people chasing a move to Canada spend months on application portals, points calculators and consultant fees, and still end up nowhere. New Brunswick has quietly built a different route. Through the New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot, six large Canadian companies are authorised to recruit international workers directly, help them settle, and then nominate them for Canadian permanent residency. The pilot runs on a five-year mandate that ends in 2027, which means the window is real, dated and closing.
This guide breaks down exactly how the programme works, who the six employers are, what they hire for, what you must have before you apply, and the exact links you need. Read it to the end, because the single most common mistake applicants make is in the very first step.
What Is the New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot?
The New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot (NBCWP) is a five-year economic immigration stream launched in November 2022 by the Government of New Brunswick in partnership with the federal government. It sits under the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) and was designed to fill roles that New Brunswick employers have struggled to staff locally for years: seafood processing, poultry work, sawmill and hardwood production, HVAC manufacturing, food production and heavy industry.
The programme is employer-driven. That is the defining feature and the part most applicants misunderstand. You cannot submit an application to the province on your own. The employer recruits you first, and the immigration process follows. The official government page states this plainly: the pilot does not accept direct applications from candidates, and there is no requirement to send your résumé to Immigration New Brunswick.
Why New Brunswick Created It
New Brunswick has one of the oldest populations in Canada and a labour market heavily weighted towards manufacturing, forestry, fisheries and food production. Those industries cannot offshore their work. A potato has to be processed near the farm; a salmon has to be handled near the water. When the local workforce shrinks, the only option is to recruit internationally and, crucially, to keep those workers long term. That last part is why settlement support is built into the programme rather than bolted on.
The 6 Participating Employers and Their Official Career Pages
Only six companies are approved under the pilot. They were selected on the basis of at least three years of consistent use of provincial and federal economic immigration programmes, plus a demonstrated ability to support newcomer settlement, skills development and language training. Bookmark these career pages, because this is where your application genuinely begins.
| Employer | Industry / Sector | Main NB Location | Official Careers Page |
| Cooke Aquaculture | Fish farming, seafood processing | Blacks Harbour / Saint John, NB | cookeseafood.com/contact/careers |
| Groupe Savoie Inc. | Hardwood processing and lumber | Saint-Quentin, NB | groupesavoie.com/en/careers |
| Groupe Westco | Poultry farming and processing | Saint-François de Madawaska, NB | westco.ca/en/careers |
| Imperial Manufacturing Group | HVAC and building products manufacturing | Richibucto / Dieppe, NB | imperialgroup.ca/careers |
| J.D. Irving, Limited | Forestry, construction, shipbuilding, agriculture | Saint John, NB (multi-site) | careers.jdirving.com |
| McCain Foods Limited | Frozen food production, potato farming | Florenceville-Bristol / Grand Falls, NB | careers.mccain.com |
1. Cooke Aquaculture
A vertically integrated seafood company founded in Blacks Harbour and now operating across North America, Europe and South America. Typical hiring includes salmon farm site workers, hatchery technicians, processing plant staff, marine crew, mechanics and transport roles. Apply at cookeseafood.com/contact/careers and look for the “Careers in Atlantic Canada & Maine” listing.
2. Groupe Savoie Inc.
A hardwood processing business founded in 1978 and employing over 600 people. It produces pallets, cabinet and furniture components, hardwood lumber, tonewood for guitars and ecological fuels. The company recruits welders, mechanics, machinists, industrial maintenance workers, loader and heavy equipment operators, truck drivers and forestry technicians. Apply at groupesavoie.com/en/careers.
3. Groupe Westco
A poultry farming and processing organisation based in Saint-François de Madawaska near the Canada-US border. Roles typically cover farm technicians, processing line workers, quality control, maintenance and logistics. Apply at westco.ca/en/careers.
4. Imperial Manufacturing Group
An HVAC and building products manufacturer with more than 1,100 employees across 15 North American locations and Platinum Club status in Canada’s Best Managed Companies. It hires machine operators, assemblers, welders, sheet metal workers, warehouse staff and maintenance technicians. Apply at imperialgroup.ca/careers.
5. J.D. Irving, Limited
The largest and most diverse of the six. J.D. Irving spans forestry and woodlands, sawmills, pulp and paper, shipbuilding, construction, transportation, retail and agriculture, and frequently carries hundreds of open roles at once. Apply at careers.jdirving.com. Note the company’s own fraud warning: it never requests money from job seekers.
6. McCain Foods Limited
The world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products, founded in Florenceville in 1957. Roles in New Brunswick include production and packaging operators, sanitation operators, control room operators, process engineers, agronomy and research farm staff, plus supply chain and IT positions at the Florenceville-Bristol global technology centre. Apply at careers.mccain.com.
Eligibility Requirements: What You Actually Need
Before you spend a single evening on applications, check yourself against this list. Meeting it does not guarantee a nomination, but failing it guarantees a rejection.
- A genuine, full-time, non-seasonal, permanent (indeterminate) job offer from one of the six participating employers, paying a wage comparable to what New Brunswick workers with similar training and experience earn in that role.
- At least one year of relevant work experience. Most guidance points to experience gained within the previous five years.
- A minimum of a high school diploma or the equivalent in your country.
- Language ability at Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) or NCLC level 4 across reading, writing, speaking and listening. If you do not have valid test results at the time of application, your employer can submit a signed attestation letter instead.
- A genuine intention to live and settle permanently in New Brunswick, not to land and immediately relocate to Toronto or Vancouver.
- Approval of the employer’s side of the process, including the federal compliance fee and an employment offer submitted through the IRCC Employer Portal.
Step-by-Step: How the Process Actually Works
The province publishes a seven-step process map. Here it is translated into what you will experience:
- Get hired. Apply through the employer’s career page for a role you are genuinely qualified for, interview, and accept a written offer. Nothing else happens until this is done.
- Create an Expression of Interest (EOI). Once you are “PR ready” and meet the criteria, you build a candidate profile and submit an EOI through the INB Portal. Your profile then sits in a candidate pool.
- Wait for an Invitation to Apply (ITA). Candidates are selected from the pool based on immigration allocations, application volumes and provincial labour market needs. The invitation arrives in your INB account.
- Submit the full application within 45 calendar days of the ITA. Everything goes in electronically as PDF files, with every mandatory form included.
- Complete your settlement plan with the employer, covering housing, transport and integration.
- Receive the provincial decision. If nominated, your certificate is valid for six months.
- Apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence before that certificate expires, then maintain the conditions of your nomination while you wait for the federal decision.
Read the official New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot Guide (PDF) before you touch the portal. It covers eligibility, selection factors and every form you will need, and it is free.
Settlement Support: The Part Nobody Talks About
Relocating to a Canadian province with real winters, limited public transport outside the cities and an unfamiliar job culture is where many newcomers struggle. This pilot was built around that problem. Participating employers were chosen specifically because they can provide enhanced support around newcomer settlement, skills development and language training.
In practice that commonly means help finding and securing housing near the worksite, transportation arrangements where public transit is thin, on-the-job language training so you can progress past entry level, and skills enhancement so your role becomes a career rather than a dead end. Confirm the specifics in writing with your employer, because the level of support varies by company and by site.
Do You Need IELTS for the New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot?
This is the single most searched question about the programme, and the answer is nuanced. The benchmark is CLB 4 in all four abilities, which is a modest level compared with Express Entry. Where the pilot differs is timing: if you do not have valid language test results when your application is submitted, the employer may provide a signed attestation letter covering your ability. Language training is then delivered on the job.
Treat that as flexibility on process, not a waiver of the requirement. Candidates who can already communicate on a factory floor or a farm site interview far better and settle far faster. If you have the time and the fee, sit an approved test anyway.
How to Avoid Job Scams Targeting This Programme
The popularity of this pathway has attracted fraudsters impersonating the six employers on social media, WhatsApp and fake recruitment sites. Protect yourself with a few fixed rules:
- Apply only through the official career domains listed in the table above. Never through a link sent to you in a direct message.
- No legitimate Canadian employer charges you for a job offer, a nomination or a work permit. If money is requested, it is a scam.
- Immigration New Brunswick does not want your résumé, so anyone claiming to forward it there for a fee is lying.
- Verify any offer by contacting the company through the phone number or email on its own website, not the contact details in the offer letter.
- Be cautious with paid “agents” who promise guaranteed nomination. Submitting an application and meeting the criteria does not guarantee a nomination, and the province reserves the right to change criteria or pause streams.
Which Roles Are Most Realistic for International Applicants?
Across the six employers, the highest-volume openings tend to be production and processing operators, general labourers, machine operators, industrial mechanics and millwrights, welders, heavy equipment and loader operators, long-haul and site truck drivers, farm and aquaculture technicians, sanitation operators, quality control technicians, and warehouse and logistics staff. Skilled trades and maintenance roles are the strongest cards you can hold, because they are hardest to fill locally and transfer cleanly across sites.
You can cross-check live vacancies and confirm an employer is genuinely hiring by searching the federal Job Bank at jobbank.gc.ca and the provincial portal nbjobs.ca. Both are free government tools, and both let you filter by employer name and location.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply to the Critical Worker Pilot directly?
No. The programme does not accept direct applications from candidates. Your route in is a job offer from one of the six approved employers.
When does the programme end?
It was launched as a five-year pilot running to 2027, subject to ongoing monitoring and evaluation. It may be extended, made permanent or discontinued after review, so treat 2027 as the planning horizon.
Will more employers be added?
Not at present. The province states the pilot remains limited in scope and is not currently open to broader participation, though opportunities may open in future.
Does a nomination guarantee permanent residency?
No. A nomination lets you apply to IRCC for permanent residence, and the federal decision is separate. Your nomination certificate is valid for six months, and you must keep meeting its conditions while your PR application is processed.
Can I bring my family?
Provincial nominee permanent residence applications generally allow you to include your spouse or common-law partner and dependent children. Confirm the details for your situation in the official guide and with IRCC.
The Bottom Line
The New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot is not a lottery, a shortcut or a giveaway. It is a hiring pipeline with an immigration outcome attached, and it rewards one specific behaviour: applying properly, to a real vacancy, at one of six named companies, for work you can actually do. The applicants who succeed are the ones who stop researching and start submitting tailored applications to the career pages above, this week rather than next year.
With the pilot scheduled to run only until 2027, timing matters. Pick the employer whose industry matches your experience, build a clean Canadian-style résumé, apply for every relevant opening, and let the employer drive the immigration process from there.
Official Links and Resources
- Official government programme page: New Brunswick Critical Worker Pilot (GNB)
- Official programme guide (PDF): Guide to the NB Critical Worker Pilot
- Application portal: INB Portal
- Federal job search: jobbank.gc.ca
- Provincial job search: nbjobs.ca
- Cooke Aquaculture careers: cookeseafood.com/contact/careers
- Groupe Savoie careers: groupesavoie.com/en/careers
- Groupe Westco careers: westco.ca/en/careers
- Imperial Manufacturing Group careers: imperialgroup.ca/careers
- J.D. Irving careers: careers.jdirving.com
- McCain Foods careers: careers.mccain.com
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not immigration advice. Programme rules, criteria and employer hiring needs change. Always confirm current requirements on the official Government of New Brunswick page before applying.