A member received an email claiming to be from the "Canada Provincial Nominee Program," congratulating them on being "selected" for a "2020/2021 resettlement program" with a "Nomination Validation Code," and asked the group whether it was real. Members took it apart line by line — a useful checklist for any unsolicited immigration email:
- The program doesn't exist. There is no "Canadian Resettlement Provincial Nominee Program," and no PNP selects people by "electronic ballot" from email addresses. Real PNP nominations follow an application or an Express Entry profile you created — you cannot be nominated for a program you never applied to.
- The address is self-contradicting. The letterhead mixed "9700 Jasper Ave, Vancouver Edmonton, AB" — Jasper Avenue is in Edmonton, not Vancouver, and no genuine government office jumbles two cities into one address line. Members flagged this instantly.
- The dates don't work. A "2020/2021" program offered as current was itself a tell — real intakes are for a specific year, and the referenced cycle was long closed.
- The promise mismatches the program. The email offered "permits to live and work"; members pointed out PNPs lead to permanent residence, not work permits. Scammers routinely get the mechanics of the program they're impersonating wrong.
- The channel is wrong. IRCC and provinces communicate through your online account and official government domains — not congratulatory emails with validation codes to addresses that never applied.
What to do with such an email: don't reply, don't pay any "processing fee," don't send documents. Verify anything doubtful against the official IRCC/provincial websites, and report phishing to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.