A 24-year-old database administrator (NOC 2172, 2 years' experience, IELTS 8777, B.Tech in mechanical engineering, CRS 457) asked which provinces gave the best PNP odds for his profile.
What members advised (a 2021–22-era thread — NOC 2172 is now 21223 under NOC 2021 and provincial streams have changed, so treat program specifics as historical):
- Ontario was the first pick for this NOC. OINP's tech-focused draws targeted database/software occupations; members called the NOC 'hot' for Ontario. The caveat raised: OINP's Human Capital Priorities cutoffs ran high — one member put the comfortable zone around CRS 455+, which this applicant just met.
- Alberta via the Express Entry stream was the second tip. Alberta's EE-linked stream was known for inviting lower CRS scores in in-demand occupations, making it a realistic parallel chance.
- The mechanical setup: open your EE profile to all provinces. Concrete advice — when creating the Express Entry profile, select all provinces rather than one, so any interested PNP can issue a notification of interest. A province-specific selection silently excludes you from the others' searches.
- Keep improving the base score anyway. The applicant resolved to retake IELTS for a higher CRS — members endorsed that as the reliable lever while waiting on PNP luck.