THE BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL NOMINEE PROGRAM
The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) accelerates the Permanent Resident application process for skilled and/or experienced workers, experienced business persons and their family members who want to settle in BC permanently. It allows nominees to apply for Permanent Resident status through Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) under the fast-tracked Provincial Nominee stream – which can be faster than applying through many federal immigration streams.
Applying to the BC PNP
If you choose to immigrate to British Columbia as a provincial nominee, the requirements you must meet and the application forms you use vary according to which component of the BC PNP you are applying under: Strategic Occupations or Business Immigrants.
Strategic Occupations
The Strategic Occupations component of the Provincial Nominee Program helps BC employers recruit or retain qualified foreign workers to help meet current and future labour needs. Nominee applicants under the Strategic Occupations component must either have a job offer of indeterminate length from a BC employer or have completed a masters or doctorate degree at a BC post-secondary institution in either the natural, applied or health sciences.
For applications where a job offer is required, the employer and the nominee applicant (potential employee) submit a joint application to the BC PNP. The need to employ foreign workers in an occupation is assessed based upon current and projected labour market conditions and economic benefit to the province.
The Strategic Occupations component has five areas of focus:
skilled workers
recent international graduates from eligible Canadian post-secondary institutions
recent masters and doctorate graduates from a BC post-secondary institution in the natural, applied or health sciences (for this category only no job offer is required)
designated health professionals
entry-level or semi-skilled workers in select occupations
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If you are a potential immigrant looking for employment opportunities in BC consider checking these sources first.
Business Immigration
The Business Immigrants component of BC’s PNP considers applications from experienced business entrepreneurs who plan to invest in and actively manage an eligible business in BC
Business Immigrants fall into one of three categories:
business skills
regional business
strategic projects
Each of these categories has different requirements for the minimum personal net worth of the applicant, the amount of investment, the geographic location within BC and the number of Canadian employees in the proposed business.
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