BC PNP Priority Access: Supporting ECE and ECEA Immigration Application

Presenter: Alex Stewart, a program advisor with the ministry of municipal affairs an advisor in immigration services and strategic planning with that ministry.  The information in this presentation is current as of June 15, 2022

with the immigration programs branch working in the skills immigration unit i’m joined today by a few of my amazing colleagues with the BCPNP, Ms. Maria Fernandez, Kirsty Maguire, Trina Mckinley and Irene Looney.

• BC PNP: General Overview
• Eligibility Requirements for Early Childhood Educators
• Skills Immigration Application Process

we’ll be giving you a brief overview of the british columbia provincial nominee program and highlights some of the key program changes particularly as it pertains to ECEs

B.C.’s only direct immigrant selection tool:

• BC PNP offers an immigration pathway to support permanent residence of economic immigrants; constitutes 46% of all B.C. economic immigrants.
• Provincial role: criteria design, outreach, assessment and nomination for permanent residence, program integrity (federal government makes final permanent residence decision).
• In 2021, B.C. allotted 6750 nominations

The BC PNP has two immigration streams each with different categories:

• Skills Immigration (SI)
• Entrepreneur Immigration(EI)

please so during this information session we’ll provide an introduction to the bc provincial nominee program an overview of the eligibility requirements for early childhood educators an overview of the skills immigration application process and then our federal colleague Darcy Bromley will provide you with information about IRCC’s federal processes.

• Skilled Worker – managers, professionals and skilled tradespeople
• International Graduate – graduates with a degree, diploma or certificate from an eligible post- secondary institution in Canada. Diplomas and Certificates from private institutions are not eligible
• Health Authority – workers employed by a B.C. health authority
• International Post Graduate – graduates with a master’s or doctoral degree in the natural, applied or health sciences from a B.C. university.
• Entry-Level and Semi-Skilled – workers in tourism/hospitality, food processing and long-haul trucking, OR entry level and semi-skilled workers who are residing in the Northeast Development Region of the province

Note: Certain occupations, such as Early Childhood Educators, are not standalone categories

so the british columbia provincial nominee program is an immigration program jointly administered by the province and canada under the canada british columbia immigration agreement so through the bcpnp bc nominates applicants who help address the province’s unique labor market needs and contribute to economic development

• Minimum requirement of CLB 4 or higher
• English (IELTS, CELPIP) or French (TEF, TCF) accepted (Minimum Language Test Scores Required)

so now an overview of the bcpnp the bcpnp is the province’s only direct economic immigration tool for bringing in new british columbians the program allows the province to select a limited number of prospective immigrants and nominate them for permanent residency if nominated individuals are eligible to apply for ircc for permanent residence for both themselves and for their dependents we have control over the design of the program and in selecting workers and foreign entrepreneurs who have the skills to help grow bc’s economy so the federal government provides a nomination allocation annually to all provinces you can see that in 2021 we were allotted 6750 nominations for the calendar year we accept expect to receive our allocation for 2022 from the federal government soon

Ability to Economically Establish
Family Income Threshold by Area of Residence
Size of Family/Metro Vancouver Regional District/Rest of B.C.

The income thresholds in this table represent 100% of an amount calculated from the 2019 Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) figures set by Statistics Canada.

so all categories except for entry level and semi-skilled have an express entry option so in order to be eligible for the express entry option candidates must meet the bc pnp criteria and federal express entry criteria so early childhood educators usually apply through either the skilled worker category here or the international graduate category