British Columbia province invites 430 candidates in its new PNP draw

Skilled workers, entrepreneurs, and international graduates are invited by the province to apply for provincial nominations.

On September 1, British Columbia province issued invitations to more than 430 immigration candidates so that they can apply for a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residency.

The BC PNP (British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program), even in this draw, excluded candidates with expertise in hospitality, tourism, personal services, and retail as there is a lot of unemployment in these sectors after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

International graduates and skilled workers were sent invitations in the EEBC (Express Entry BC), Entrepreneur stream, Skilled Immigration (SI) stream.

Express Entry BC candidates need to have a valid profile in the Express Entry system, as it is the country's most used pathway by the skilled immigrants to obtain Canadian permanent residency.

The skills immigration category is meant for the candidates who are skilled and Semi-skilled in occupations that have high demand in the British Columbia province.

The minimum score required to get ITAs in today's draw was ranged between 76 and 98 for the 5 SI and EEBC categories that were involved.

The minimum requirement is as follows:

• EEBC – Skilled Worker: 94
• EEBC – International Graduate: 98
• SI – Entry Level and Semi-Skilled: 76
• SI – International Graduate: 98
• SI – Skilled Worker: 94

To receive an invitation, the candidates belonging to the EEBC stream should have been registered under the Express Entry system and the provinces' Skilled Immigration Registration System (SIRS).

The Canadian government immigration pathways are managed by the Express Entry system. The candidates whose profiles are present in Express Entry are awarded points based on the core human capital factors like age, education qualifications, work experience, and English or French language proficiency.

If a candidate who is in the Express Entry system receives the provincial nomination, then 600 additional points will be added to his/her score.

The candidates of skilled immigration are only required to be registered with the SIRS.

On September 1, invitations were also sent to applications in the Entrepreneur Immigration- Base category stream and Entrepreneur Immigration- Regional Pilot Stream.

In the category of Entrepreneur Immigration Base, 6 candidates were issued with invitations even with scores as low as 126. The Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category is meant for either business owners who are planning to invest in a business in the British Columbia province or to senior managers who can actively manage the day to day business activities.

Invitations were sent to candidates who have scores of 128 in the Entrepreneur Immigration- Regional Pilot Stream. This stream is designed to attract investors to regional and smaller communities in the province.

Last week British Columbia issued 72 invitations through Tech Pilot skilled workers and to international graduates who have job offers in one of the 29 eligible tech occupations.

The cut-off in each category was 80.

Most BC PNP immigration candidates need to show an indeterminate full-time job offer, but the applicants selected in tech pilot BC PNP do not require it. But the candidates need to have a job offer whose duration is at least one year and have at least 120 days remaining in that year by the time they are applying for a provincial nomination.