A 37-year-old member with a low CRS score was considering making his spouse (secondary school teacher, NOC 4031) the primary applicant instead of himself (mechanical engineer, NOC 2132), and wanted to know which provinces had good demand for either NOC — noting NOC 4031 was on Saskatchewan's excluded occupations list.
What the thread clarified:- NOC 2132 (Mechanical Engineer) appears on Manitoba's (MPNP) in-demand occupation list, making Manitoba worth investigating specifically for that NOC.
- Your education credential doesn't need to match your work experience field for CRS/PNP scoring purposes. Points for education level are assessed independently of what field your degree is in — so a mismatch between your degree and your NOC isn't automatically disqualifying.
- Excluded-occupation lists vary by province and change over time. Saskatchewan's exclusion of NOC 4031 doesn't mean it's excluded everywhere — each province maintains its own in-demand and excluded lists, so check each one individually (e.g. via each province's official PNP website) rather than assuming rules are consistent across provinces.
The practical takeaway: when deciding which spouse should be the primary applicant, check each target province's current in-demand/excluded occupation list for both NOCs individually — don't assume a rule from one province (like Saskatchewan's exclusion) applies elsewhere, and remember your education field doesn't need to match your work NOC.