British Columbia held a draw through its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) on February 2, 2021.
B.C. holds draws through its various PNP categories and streams on a weekly basis.
So far this year 740 invitations have been issued by the BC PNP.
To apply for the Skills Immigration or Express Entry BC categories candidates must first create a profile through the BC PNP’s online portal and register under its Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS).
Applicants are evaluated and issued a score based on factors such as level of education, work experience, proficiency in English and location of employment.
What is the Skills Immigration stream?
This pathway to permanent residence is for eligible foreign workers who usually already have a job offer in B.C.
There are five categories under SI, four of them are aligned with the federal government’s Express Entry system:
• Skilled Worker Category — for people who have a job offer and several years of experience in a skilled occupation;
• Healthcare Professional Category — physicians, nurses, psychiatric nurses or allied health professionals with job offers in one of 11 eligible occupations may apply for this category;
• International Graduate Category — for workers who have graduated from an eligible Canadian university or college in the last three years;
• International Post-Graduate Category— Master’s or Ph.D. graduates from eligible B.C. post-secondaries in the natural, applied, or health sciences may apply for this category without a job offer; and
• Entry Level and Semi-Skilled Worker Category — for entry-level or semi-skilled workers with jobs in tourism, hospitality, food processing, or long-haul trucking, or those in entry-level or semi-skilled positions living and working in the Northeast Development Region of British Columbia. This is the only SI category that does not apply to candidates in the Express Entry system.
