Skills Immigration Stream

It is a collection of immigration streams contained within the BC PNP, which is operated by the province of British Columbia. Through these streams, the workers and international graduates with the skills, education, and/or experience required to successfully contribute to the economy of British Columbia may be nominated for Canadian permanent residence.

The following streams are part of BC Skills Immigration:

•    BC Skilled Worker
•    BC Healthcare Professional
•    BC International Graduate
•    BC International Post-Graduate
•    BC Entry Level and Semi-Skilled Worker

Most of the programs in the BC Skills Immigration stream need the applicant to have a job offer from a BC employer; however, the job offer doesn’t need a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to be considered valid under the BC Skills Immigration. If approved through this stream, British Columbia provides the applicants a work permit support letter that assists them in obtaining authorization to work while their immigration application is in process. Candidates for this stream must register through BC PNP Online – the web portal managing the Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS), which manages the intake, ranking, and applications for BC PNP applications.

British Columbia Express Entry

In order to apply to the BC Skills Immigration streams, the candidate need not be eligible for Express Entry; however, most of the programs in these streams offer an accelerated pathway to PR to eligible candidates with an active Express Entry profile. The application procedure is the same until the applicant receives a nomination from the province and submits a federal application for PR. While the federal applications for Express Entry candidates are submitted online through the IRCC web portal, the same for non-Express Entry candidates must be submitted as hard copy appropriate processing centre. Paper-based applications take about 18 months to process. It should be noted that the BC Entry Level and Semi-Skilled Worker stream does not have an Express Entry stream.

BC Skilled Worker

This stream is designed to target immigrants with an offer of employment from a BC employer for a skilled occupation. The eligible candidates are assigned points based on the BC Skills Immigration Ranking System and the ones with the most competitive rankings are invited to apply to the PNP.

BC Healthcare Professional

This stream is designed for immigrants with an offer of employment from a BC health authority for an eligible occupation in healthcare. If any foreign national meets the requirements for this program, they may submit an application any time.

BC International Graduate

This stream is designed for recent graduates from Canadian post-secondary educational institutions with an offer of employment from a BC employer in a skilled position. Eligible candidates are given points according to the BC Skills Immigration Ranking System and the ones with the most competitive rankings are invited to apply to the Provincial Nominee Program.

BC International Post-Graduate

This stream is designed for recent graduates with Master’s or Doctoral degree from an eligible institution in British Columbia. It should be noted that only certain schools and programs are eligible for this pathway. If a foreign national meets the requirements for the program, they may submit an application at any time.

BC Entry-Level and Semi-Skilled (ELSS)

The BC ELSS stream is designed to target people who have at least 9 months of work experience in a low-skilled occupation in BC and have received an offer of employment from a BC employer. To be eligible for this stream, the worker must have gained experience in one of the target occupations or in a certain geographical region of British Columbia. Eligible candidates are given points on the basis of BC Skills Immigration Ranking System and the ones with the most competitive rankings are invited to apply to the PNP. It should be noted that the candidates eligible for this stream cannot apply through Express Entry.

British Columbia Skills Immigration Ranking System

The British Columbia Skills Immigration Ranking system uses the following points grid to rank candidates with registered profiles. Only the candidates with the most competitive scores get an invitation to apply to the program.