March 19, 2024

Updates coming to the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP)

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs will be updating the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) in January 2025 to create clearer pathways and better outcomes for international workers coming to B.C. A detailed summary of the updates will be available in late 2024, and the criteria will be published in the BC PNP Skills Immigration Program Guide in January 2025.

These updates will lead to better outcomes for nominees, ensuring people identified by the BC PNP to help strengthen B.C.’s economy will be set up for career success. They also ensure that prospective applicants are less susceptible to bad actors in the immigration system.

The Ministry will continue to issue targeted invitations to apply for workers with a job offer in a priority occupation, such as healthcare, construction and early childhood education.

Why are updates needed?

The BC PNP is one of many immigration programs available for people who want to come to B.C. It provides a pathway to permanent residency for international workers and entrepreneurs who bring the greatest benefit to B.C.’s economy.

The Ministry is updating the program so that prospective applicants will know up front the level of education and language skills they will need to have a chance of being nominated. This clarity will make it harder for bad actors to take advantage of people by misrepresenting the BC PNP as an “easy pathway” to permanent residency. With a limited number of BC PNP nominations available each year, meeting the minimum program requirements does not guarantee that people will be invited to apply.

Additionally, statistics show that newcomers with higher education and language skills in French or English strengthen B.C.’s economy by being more likely to have success at work, earning a higher income and staying in jobs that B.C. needs to fill.

The updates also align with new measures from the Ministry of Post-secondary Education and Future Skills to protect international students from predatory institutions and recruiters.

What is being updated?

PDF Guild: BC-PNP-IPG-Eligible-Programs-of-Study (Version – March 19, 2024)

Graduate streams
The current International Graduate and International Post-Graduate streams will be replaced with three new streams:

• The Bachelor’s stream will be for recent graduates with bachelor’s degrees from eligible post-secondary institutions. Graduates with an indeterminate full-time job offer can register for this stream
• The Master’s stream will be for recent graduates with master’s degrees from eligible post-secondary institutions, in any field of study. Graduates with a minimum one-year full-time job offer in a skilled occupation can register for this stream
• The Doctorate stream will be for graduates and candidates of doctoral level programs from eligible post-secondary institutions. Graduates and PhD candidates can apply directly to this stream

Students who complete diploma or certificate programs in Canada (who will not be eligible for these new graduate streams) can still qualify for other BC PNP streams.

Language requirements
The minimum language proficiency level will be increased program-wide, except for the Health Authority stream which has already been adjusted.

A minimum of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 8 is currently planned for the new graduate streams.

Language test equivalency charts