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British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP)

A province situated on Canada’s western coast, British Columbia is amongst the top destinations for Canadian immigration due to its economic growth and labour market demands.

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) is an economic immigration program administered by the Government of British Columbia’s Immigration Programs Branch.

The program enables the province to select and nominate foreign workers, international students and entrepreneurs to help meet B.C.’s labour market needs, support government priorities, and help grow B.C.’s economy. If you are nominated, you and your family can apply to IRCC to become a permanent resident of Canada.

There are three major immigration streams under British Columbia PNP:

Skills Immigration
Express Entry BC
Entrepreneur Immigration

British Columbia Skills Immigration is a collection of immigration streams contained within the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP), a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) operated by the province of British Columbia. Through the BC Skills Immigration streams, workers and international graduates with the skills, education, and/or experience required to successfully contribute to the BC economy may be nominated for Canadian permanent residence.

Skilled and semi-skilled workers in highly demanded occupations in British Columbia can apply through Skills Immigration that adopts an invitation system based on points.

These streams are also further divided into different sub-categories:

British Columbia International Post-Graduate

Skilled and semi-skilled workers in highly demanded occupations in British Columbia can apply through Skills Immigration that adopts an invitation system based on points.

British Columbia Skilled Worker

This sub-category allows the skilled workers with a job offer from the provincial employer to apply for BC PNP provincial nomination. You need to have minimum required work experience in a skilled occupation.

British Columbia Healthcare Professional

This sub-category allows professionals in the healthcare industry like physicians, nurses, psychiatric nurses, or allied health professionals with the job offer and work experience to apply for provincial nomination.

British Columbia International Graduate

This sub-category allows the recently graduated international students from an eligible educational institution in the past three years to apply for provincial nomination. You need to have a job offer to be eligible for this sub-category.

British Columbia Semi-Skilled and Entry Level Worker

This immigration sub-category is for a semi-skilled or entry-level position in various industries like hospitality/ tourism, long haul trucking, food processing, or for those working in a semi-skilled or entry-level position, working and living in the Northeast Development Region of the province.

British Columbia Express Entry is a swifter pathway for qualified skilled workers to migrate to the province. In this stream, British Columbia can search for skilled candidates in the express entry pool and invite them to apply for a provincial nomination. BC Express Entry has an invitation system based on points. It is a completely digital process for registration and application for both PNP BC and PR processes. This immigration stream is termed Express Entry British Columbia (EEBC).

The Express Entry BC PNP requirements that you must fulfil to qualify under this stream are:

Have accepted an indeterminate, permanent job offer from a local employer. The job must be a skilled occupation under National Occupational Classification Skill level B, A, or 0.
Have a minimum of two years of work experience directly related to the job offered
Be qualified for or have legal immigration standing in the country
Possess a Profile Number in Express Entry and an IRCC Express Entry Job Seeker Validation Code. It demonstrates that you have the minimum qualifications for any one of the 3 schemes under IRCC Express Entry.
Be qualified to work in the job role offered to you in the province
Demonstrate that you can take care of yourself and your dependents
Possess a work offer in line with the established employment rates in BC for the specified line-of-work
Fulfil the minimum language requirements

British Columbia Entrepreneur Immigration category is for experienced Entrepreneurs who intend to actively manage a business in the province. It has an invitation system based on points and the applicants must possess the required investment and personal funds. Entrepreneurs with noteworthy personal net worth and overseas firms with high yearly revenue can migrate to the province by establishing fresh enterprises in British Columbia. There are two sub-categories under BC entrepreneur immigration:

Entrepreneur Immigration – Regional Pilot: This category allows experienced businessmen to run their own business in smaller communities in British Columbia.
Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category: This immigration category is for business owners or senior managers who want to invest intro proposed business in British Columbia

The Tech Pilot program of British Columbia is aimed at overseas nationals employed in any one of the in-demand technology occupations of the province. To be eligible for BC PNP Tech Pilot, an applicant is required to have a full-time job offer from an eligible employer of the province. It is aligned with the Skills Immigration stream of the province. British Columbia’s tech sector is one of the main pillars for the economic growth of the province. The demand for talent in British Columbia’s technology sector is growing faster than the supply.

Tech Pilot enables qualified overseas citizens to access quicker processing and extra resources via applications.

A valid passport
A Job-Offer Letter
Educational certificates (degree, diploma, and certificates)
Work-Related Reference Letters
Language proficiency (IELTS)
Civil identity proof (age, name, date of birth must be mentioned)
Evidence that you can support yourself (and your dependents if applicable)
Documents that show you have or be eligible for legal immigration status in Canada
Police certificate and clearance

The estimated BC PNP processing time for nomination applications under Express Entry BC and Skills Immigration is around 2 to 3 months.

For applications through Entrepreneur Immigration, the estimated processing time is 6 weeks for the stage of Registration Score Notification from the date of registration. Extra 4 weeks for processing must be included from the date of supplication submission till the notification of decision (at the stage of Work Permit).

IRCC at the federal level presently processes non-Express Entry nomination applications from the provinces within 15 to 19 months. The common average of 6 months is applicable for Express Entry streams.

British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP)

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