In the admissions data of IRCC, Canada's immigration department, nomination by a province has been the most common way for South African citizens to become permanent residents in recent years, ahead of federal skilled-worker programmes and family sponsorship. The Provincial Nominee Program lets each province and territory except Quebec and Nunavut choose people whose skills its economy needs, through its own streams for groups such as skilled workers or students. Some streams run through Express Entry, Canada's online system that ranks skilled workers by points, where a nomination adds points; others take a separate application. Either way, a nominee must settle in the province or territory that nominated them.

From South Africa, start with the two reports that the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Express Entry's programme for skilled work gained abroad, requires: an approved language test result and an educational credential assessment, showing what your qualification equals in Canada. Then comes the police certificate, where one version alone counts: IRCC's page for South Africa says certificates from Ideco Biometrics are not valid for immigration and that applicants should always request the standard Republic of South Africa police clearance certificate, issued only by the criminal records office of the South African Police Service in Pretoria. That office processes no scanned or copied fingerprints, and since police certificates can take a long time, IRCC suggests requesting them once your profile is in the pool.

The mistake to avoid is counting on money that cannot yet leave South Africa. Settlement funds, the money you show to prove you can support yourself in Canada, must be money you can legally access there when you arrive, so the equity in a house does not count, and South Africa's exchange controls let each adult send only a yearly allowance abroad without a tax check. A larger transfer needs a tax compliance status from SARS, the South African Revenue Service, which asks for proof of where the money came from, so apply for it well before you travel.