British Columbia Immigration
British Columbia is Canada’s westernmost province. It’s also known for being the most diverse province and has the entire western continental coastline along the Pacific Ocean. Its vast expansive forests and unique coastal climate is renowned as one of the most beautiful in the world. The province’s economy heavily relies on natural resources sector such as Forestry and Mining. Vancouver is Canada’s bustling west coast seaport and third largest city. British Columbia’s ethnical diversity has a unique mix of Europeans and Asians.
British Columbia Provincial nomination program (BCPNP)
This program is run by British Columbia Provincial Government in participation with the Federal immigration department Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Interested candidates must follow a two stage process. First interested candidates must apply for nomination to the provincial government and then, if nominated, they can apply for the provincial nomination certificates to the prospective immigrants, which will allow foreign nationals to apply for Canadian permanent residence. Each year IRCC allocates a limited number of nominations to British Columbia Provincial Nominations.
Following are the two main immigration streams for which British Columbia provincial nomination accepts applications:
- Skilled immigration
- Express Entry British Columbia Stream.
- Entrepreneur Immigration.
THE BC PNP TECH PILOT
This program allows British Columbia immigrant officials to expedite the processing of immigration candidates to fulfil the shortage in technology occupations.
Candidates with work experience in one of the 29 eligible occupations in the BC technology sector get invitations issued under British Columbia program.
The BC PNP Tech pilot program candidate must still meet the basic requirement of having a minimum one year job offer from a British Columbia employer. Eligible candidate under this stream are:
- Healthcare professionals.
- International graduates.
- International post-graduates.
- Entry level and Semi-skilled workers.
PROCESSING TIMES
Processing time for the applications under BC PNP is 2-3 months for nomination applications under skills immigration and Express Entry British Columbia. Whereas the processing time for the applications under the Entrepreneur immigration, British Columbia estimates a 6-week processing time from the date of registration. Further 4-weeks processing time is required for the Registration Score Notification. At the federal level, IRCC currently processes provincial nomination non- Express entry nomination applications within 15-19 weeks. While Express Entry Applications average general time is 6 months.