The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program was designed by the provincial government for the purpose of attracting foreign national workers into jobs that are in high demand in the province of British Columbia and for those immigrants who wish to gain permanent residency in this province.
243 immigration candidates who had submitted their application to the BC PNP were invited for a provincial nomination in the draw held for the program on 21st December. Two draws were held in total, and under the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program, the candidates invited primarily were those who had submitted applications under the Skilled Immigration stream and the Express Entry stream under the BC PNP.
The invitations were sent to candidates of the Express Entry stream, the International Graduate Stream, the Skilled Worker stream as well as the semi-skilled subcategory of these streams of the BC PNP. 194 of these Invitations to apply were decided to be sent through the general draw. The candidates who received these invitations will have to meet the minimum score within the range of 74 and 106 to be eligible, the exact score varying depending on the pathway they applied through and its eligibility criteria.
The second draw was held primarily to invite workers who worked in the retail or wholesale sector or in the foodservice and restaurant sector, classified under NOC 0621 and 0631 by National Occupations Classification. Under this draw, 49 invitations were sent out to candidates who had gained a minimum score of 106.
The government of British Columbia had decided last February to hold separate rounds for the purpose of sending Invitations every month as a part of its Provincial Nominee Program and has done so ever since. The decision was primarily made because of the higher number of candidates who had registered under the Skill Immigration Registration System of British Columbia in specific occupations. The province has completed this year of draws with a total of 11,500 invitations to apply being sent under various streams and pathways of the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program.
About The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program
The aim of the BC PNP has been to attract foreign national workers to the province into jobs that are in high demand as well as to welcome immigrants who wish to become permanent residents of the province.
The main immigration streams that exist under the BC PNP are Skilled Immigration streams and the Express Entry stream. These both are further divided into subcategories and are together managed through the Skills Immigration Registration System of British Columbia. To apply to the SIRS, a candidate will have to first create and register an account. Once done, the applicants will be given a score on the basis of many qualification factors such as work experience, language proficiency, and educational credentials.
The candidates with the highest scores will be selected under each sub-category and sent invites to further apply for gaining a provincial nomination from the province of British Columbia and permanent residency. For this purpose, draws are held on a regular basis. If a candidate receives an invitation, they have a time period of 30 days from the day that they receive the Invitation to complete and submit their application through the online portal of BC PNP.
Once the application has been submitted to the portal, the candidate will get a notification about the decision that the immigration offices of the province take on their application within a time period of two or three months. If the candidate gains a nomination, they immediately become eligible to submit their application to the IRCC to gain the status of a permanent resident of Canada under the Provincial Nominee Class.
The validity of the nomination will last for 6 months from the given date of confirmation. If you gain a provincial nomination, you will gain 600 additional score points under the Comprehensive Ranking System, a score that is high enough to qualify you for gaining an invitation to apply under the federal Express Entry system.
