SINP Occupations In-Demand List

If you have been searching for a list of Saskatchewan's in-demand occupations, you will not find one on the government's website, because it does not exist. The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program stopped using a positive occupation list in 2019 and replaced it with the opposite: a list of occupations that are blocked. Your occupation qualifies for the Occupations In-Demand sub-category if it is skilled and does not appear on that blocked list.

This matters because the lists of 200 or more in-demand occupations still circulating on immigration websites are describing a model Saskatchewan retired seven years ago. Applying against the wrong list costs you a non-refundable $500 fee. Below is what the province actually excludes, what remains eligible, and where to go if your occupation is blocked. Occupations In-Demand is one of the few remaining routes to Canadian permanent residence that requires no job offer and no Express Entry profile.

Is There an SINP Occupations In-Demand List?

No. Saskatchewan sets eligibility with two tests rather than a list. Your occupation must sit at NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3, which rules out TEER 4 and TEER 5 work entirely, and it must not appear on the SINP Excluded Occupation List. Anything that clears both tests is treated as in-demand. Your work experience must also relate to your field of education, which is a separate filter that catches a surprising number of otherwise eligible applicants.

The sub-category sits inside the wider Provincial Nominee Program framework, and Saskatchewan runs it through an Expression of Interest pool. Submitting an EOI is not an application. It places you in a ranked pool, and Saskatchewan invites the highest-scoring candidates when it holds a selection.

SINP Excluded Occupation List 2026

The Excluded Occupation List blocks roughly 120 NOC codes from both the Occupations In-Demand and Express Entry sub-categories. The most recent published version is dated May 1, 2024, so confirm the current version before filing. The exclusions are not random, and the pattern is worth understanding: Saskatchewan blocks occupations where licensing is the real bottleneck, where the province wants employer sponsorship instead, and where supply already exceeds demand.

Health Care Occupations Excluded From Occupations In-Demand

This is the group that surprises people most, because health care is one of Saskatchewan's stated priority sectors. Nearly the entire regulated health workforce is excluded from this sub-category:

• Managers in health care, and nursing coordinators and supervisors
• General practitioners and family physicians, specialists in surgery, and specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine
• Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, nurse practitioners, and licensed practical nurses
• Pharmacists, dentists, denturists, dental hygienists and dental therapists, and opticians
• Optometrists, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, and dietitians and nutritionists
• Physiotherapists, kinesiologists, respiratory therapists and clinical perfusionists
• Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals
• Massage therapists, acupuncturists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners

Professional, Legal and Public Service Occupations Excluded

• Lawyers and Quebec notaries, judges, paralegals, and court clerks
• Financial auditors and accountants, securities agents and investment dealers, and insurance adjusters
• Police officers whether commissioned or not, police investigators, firefighters and fire chiefs
• Correctional service officers, sheriffs and bailiffs, border services and immigration officers
• Probation and parole officers, and by-law enforcement officers
• Members of the Canadian Armed Forces across all listed categories
• Government managers in health, economic and education policy, and school principals
• Secondary school teachers, elementary school and kindergarten teachers, and post-secondary teaching assistants
• Social and community service workers, counselling therapists and religious leaders

Engineering, Science and Trades Occupations Excluded

• Petroleum engineers, aerospace engineers, landscape architects, and urban and land use planners
• Physicists and astronomers, geoscientists and oceanographers, meteorologists and forestry professionals
• Sheet metal workers, gas fitters, machine fitters, and elevator constructors and mechanics
• Telecommunications line and cable installers, and telecommunications equipment installation technicians
• Oil and solid fuel heating mechanics, and oil and gas well drillers and servicers
• Transport truck drivers, bus drivers and transit operators, and heavy equipment operators
• Air pilots and flight engineers, deck and engineer officers in water transport, and railway locomotive engineers
• Water and waste treatment plant operators, drillers and blasters, and pest controllers
• Manufacturing supervisors across plastics, textiles, motor vehicle assembly, electronics and furniture

Arts, Culture, Sales and Service Occupations Excluded

• Authors and writers, technical writers, journalists, editors, and translators and interpreters
• Musicians and singers, conductors and composers, producers and directors, dancers and actors
• Graphic designers and illustrators, interior designers, and theatre and fashion designers
• Photographers, film and video camera operators, broadcast and audio recording technicians
• Librarians, archivists, conservators and curators, and library technicians
• Athletes, coaches, sports officials, and recreation program leaders
• Retail sales supervisors, retail salespersons, and food service supervisors
• Real estate agents, insurance agents and brokers, and funeral directors and embalmers
• Hairstylists and barbers, estheticians, and shoe repairers

The complete file, including every NOC code, is published as the SINP Excluded Occupation List. Check your own code against it rather than relying on a job title, because titles map to codes in ways that are not always obvious.

What to Do If Your Occupation Is Excluded

Exclusion from Occupations In-Demand is not exclusion from the SINP. Saskatchewan says so directly: excluded occupations may still qualify through the International Skilled Worker: Employment Offer sub-category or a Saskatchewan Work Experience category, provided your employer has registered with the province and received approval for the job offer. The trade-off is that you now need an employer, which is exactly the outcome the exclusion list is designed to produce for these occupations.

The federal route stays open regardless. Excluded occupations can still enter the Express Entry pool through the Federal Skilled Worker Program or, with Canadian experience, the Canadian Experience Class, and category-based rounds targeting health care, trades and education reach many of the same occupations Saskatchewan blocks.

SINP Occupations In-Demand Eligibility Requirements

Beyond the occupation test, Saskatchewan applies a fixed set of requirements. You must live outside Canada or hold legal status in Canada, and you cannot be a refugee claimant. You need at least one year of full-time paid work experience, meaning a minimum of 30 hours per week, in the past ten years, in a skilled occupation related to your field of education.

Language ability must reach Canadian Language Benchmark 4 or higher on a designated test taken within the last two years, which is a low bar by Canadian standards. Education must be post-secondary and comparable to a Canadian credential, with an educational credential assessment required for anything obtained outside Canada. You also need settlement funds held for at least three months before filing and maintained throughout, plus a settlement plan generated through the federal Come to Canada tool. Saskatchewan sets these out on its official Occupation In-Demand page.

SINP Points Grid Requirement

You need at least 60 points out of 110 on the SINP point assessment grid, scored across education and training, skilled work experience, language ability, age, and connections to Saskatchewan through the job market or family. Clearing 60 makes you eligible to submit an EOI. It does not make you competitive. Invitations go to the highest scorers in the pool, so the practical target is well above the floor, and points for a close relative living in Saskatchewan or for previous Saskatchewan work or study experience are often what separates an invited profile from a waiting one.

SINP Nomination Caps by Sector in 2026

Saskatchewan caps three sectors at a combined 25 percent of its annual nomination allocation. These caps apply across the program, not only to Occupations In-Demand, and they signal where the province has decided it has enough applicants.

Those figures imply a total 2026 allocation of roughly 4,760 nominations, which is a sharp reduction from the volumes Saskatchewan handled before the federal allocation cuts. In 2026 there are six intake windows for employers submitting Employer Position Assessments in capped sectors, and to use one the employer must have an identified candidate whose work permit expires within the next six months.

How to Apply to SINP Occupations In-Demand

Confirm Your NOC Code and TEER Level

Use the federal NOC search tool to match your actual duties, not your job title, to a code. SINP staff will not tell you which NOC to choose, and choosing wrongly makes an application ineligible after you have paid. Verify the code sits at TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 and check it against the Excluded Occupation List before going further.

Score Yourself on the Point Assessment Grid

Work through the 110-point grid honestly and document every claim you intend to make. If you claim 20 points for a degree, you will need the degree and complete transcripts, translated if they are not in English or French. Overstating points is treated as misrepresentation, and a finding carries a two-year suspension from the SINP or longer for a repeat.

Submit Your Expression of Interest

Create a single EOI profile in the OASIS system. There is no limit on how many candidates can submit and no fee at this stage, but you may only hold one profile. If your circumstances change, or you want to change the occupation you selected, you can amend and resubmit before an invitation is issued.

Respond to Your Invitation to Apply

An invitation triggers the real application, the $500 non-refundable fee, and a document package covering identity, education, work experience with employer reference letters plus government-issued corroboration, language results, licensure where required, settlement funds and your settlement plan. Applications submitted with missing or untranslated documents are closed and returned, and the fee is not refunded.

Apply for Permanent Residence

A nomination is not permanent residence. Occupations In-Demand is a non-Express Entry route, so the federal application that follows is processed on the paper-based timeline rather than the faster Express Entry track. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada makes the final decision, and a nomination does not protect you from refusal on criminality, medical or misrepresentation grounds.

Occupations In-Demand vs the SINP Express Entry Sub-Category

Both sub-categories use the same Excluded Occupation List and the same 60-point threshold, so the occupation test is identical. The difference is speed and prerequisites. The Express Entry sub-category requires an active federal profile, and a nomination through it adds 600 points to your Comprehensive Ranking System score, which effectively guarantees a federal invitation. Occupations In-Demand requires no federal profile at all, which makes it accessible to candidates who cannot qualify for any Express Entry program, at the cost of a slower federal stage afterwards.

SEP Immigration checks your NOC against the current exclusion list, scores your profile before you file, and manages the application through to permanent residence. Book a consultation with a licensed RCIC to review your options.

General information only, not legal advice. The Excluded Occupation List, sector caps and eligibility criteria change without notice, so verify the current version on saskatchewan.ca before you apply. Current as of August 2026.