The Province of British Colombia (BC) has announced that it is updating its Provincial Nominee Programme (PNP) following the federal government’s decision to reduce the nomination allocation spots.
BC had fully met its allocation for 2024 to nominate 8,000 workers and entrepreneurs who support provincial priorities, and the Province has requested an allocation of 11,000 for 2025. However, in January 2025, BC’s 2025 allocation was cut to 4000 by the federal government.
As part of the updated approach, the Province will process the majority of its application inventory and accept approximately 1,100 new applications this year, mainly for positions that contribute directly to the delivery of health-care services, such as doctors, nurses and allied-health professionals.
The remaining 2,900 spaces will be used to nominate some of the applications already received.
Key Details
- International Post-Graduate (IPG) applications received between September 1, 2024, and January 7, 2025, will be waitlisted until more nominations become available. All other applications received in 2024 and early 2025 will be processed in 2025.
- The BC PNP does not expect to resume general or priority occupation targeted invitations to apply (ITAs) in 2025. Instead, the program will issue a limited number of ITAs to Skills Immigration registrants who are likely to create high economic impact in B.C.; the program anticipates nominating approximately 100 such individuals from the registration pool, which currently has more than 10,000 candidates. Invitations may also be issued to support the Province’s strategic goals. These factors – which may vary for each draw – will be published at the time of each invitation to apply. The program expects to issue the first ITA for high economic impact candidates in early May.
- Invitations to apply will continue to be issued to Entrepreneur Immigration registrants throughout 2025.
- Effective immediately, eligibility for the Health Authority stream will be restricted to positions that contribute directly to the provision of healthcare services, such as doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. The complete list of eligible healthcare occupations can be found at this link.
- Based on consultations with the Ministry of Education and Child Care, future targeted invitations to apply (ITAs) will focus on Early Childhood Educator positions. Early Childhood Educator Assistants will no longer be part of the targeted draws.
- In consultation with the Ministry of Health, enhanced guidelines will be developed for social workers and community service workers.
- The BC PNP is committed to returning to a three-month service standard for new applications submitted in 2025.
- The BC PNP is pausing plans to launch three new student streams until B.C.’s allocation levels are restored.
The Province will continue to advocate for the federal government to restore the BC Provincial Nominee Program allocation to previous levels, to support BC’s efforts to attract and retain in demand professionals.
Erickson Insights & Analysis
Erickson Immigration Group will continue to monitor developments and share updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or case-specific questions.