The BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) – Skills Immigration stream offers a pathway for skilled workers and recent graduates to build their future in British Columbia. This program is designed for individuals who have the qualifications, work experience, and expertise that are in demand by local employers in B.C.

The Skills Immigration stream consists of several categories, each tailored to different professional and educational backgrounds:

1. Skilled Worker
   For individuals with a job offer in a skilled occupation and relevant work experience.

2. Healthcare Professional
   For physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals with a job offer in B.C.

3. International Graduate
   For recent graduates from eligible Canadian post-secondary institutions with a job offer in B.C.

4. International Post-Graduate
   For graduates with a master’s or doctoral degree in eligible programs from a B.C. post-secondary institution (no job offer required).

5. Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (ELSS) Worker
   For workers in certain entry-level or semi-skilled positions in tourism/hospitality, food processing, or long-haul trucking, primarily in the Northeast Development Region of B.C.

Express Entry Alignment:
The Skilled Worker and International Graduate categories are aligned with the federal Express Entry system, offering a faster pathway to permanent residency for eligible applicants.

Eligibility requirement – Skills Immigration including Express Entry BC program:

There is a basic/general eligibility requirement which is applicable to each of the sub categories of Skills Immigration (including Express Entry BC) with their unique individual eligibility criteria.

General requirements:

• Your employer has offered, and you have accepted, indeterminate, full-time employment in an eligible occupation (Exception: Skills Immigration – International Post-Graduate and EEBC – International Post-Graduate).

• You must be qualified for the offered position. The BC PNP may refer to the National Occupational Classification (NOC), WorkBC or industry standards to determine the minimum qualifications for an occupation.

• The wage you have been offered must be competitive with B.C. wage rates for the occupation. For more information, please refer to the individual category

• For occupations classified under NOC TEER Category Skill Levels 2, 3, 4, and 5, you must demonstrate English or French language proficiency at Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 4. If you are registering and/or applying with a job offer in a National Occupational Classification Skill Level 0 or A occupation, you are not required to submit valid language test results. However, at its discretion, the BC PNP may require valid language test results to determine whether you have the language proficiency to perform the duties of the

• You must demonstrate that you meet minimum income requirements. For more information, please see the minimum income requirements section.
• You must not have an ownership/equity stake of more than 10 per cent in the B.C. company that has offered you
• Your employment must provide economic benefit to B.C. For example, your employment will contribute to:
  • Maintaining or creating jobs for Canadians
  • Transferring knowledge and skills to Canadians
  • Supporting the development of proprietary new products
  • Building the workforce for a major project
• Your employment must not adversely affect the settlement of a labour dispute, or the employment of anyone involved in any such dispute, or adversely impact training or employment opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent
• If invited to apply, you must submit the $550 application fee with your online application before your application will be processed. Incomplete applications will not be approved, and application fees will only be refunded if you withdraw your application before the BC PNP begins to assess it.

Minimum Income Requirements – Skills Immigration

You must demonstrate that you’re capable of supporting yourself along with your dependents if you want to be entitled for the BC PNP’s Skills Immigration streams with the exception of the international Post-Graduate stream through your:

• Annual wage in B.C.
• Location of residence in B.C.
• Number of dependants

Applicant’s family must meet the minimum family income threshold established by The BC PNP for the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the rest of B.C.

Family income is the total of:

• The gross annual wage you’ve received from your BC employer supporting your BC PNP application
• The gross annual wage of your spouse or common -law partner in B.C from a legal work which has a valid work permit if applicable.

Only applicant’s regular gross annual wages will be considered while calculating your family income. The annual wage is calculated using the number of hours of work/week to a maximum of 40 hours/week. The commissions, additions of any kind, bonuses, profit-sharing distributions, overtime wages, allowances for housing or rent, perks, over time wages or any other similar payment/ payments will not be considered a part of your wage rate.

It is individual’s employer’s responsibility to validate that the offered wage is genuine and bona fide. If found on reasonable grounds that the wage that has been offered has been inflated to meet the minimum income requirements or for the purpose of procuring a higher registration score, the application will be rejected.

Being capable of demonstrating a history of earning the offered wage rate and meeting minimum income requirements before submitting a registration and /or application to the BC PNP if you’re working for a B.C. employer on a valid work permit.

Entry level and semi-skilled applicants must be able to show a history of meeting the applicable income threshold requirement for a complete nine-month period before submitting a registration and/or application.

If you were initially employed on the basis of a positive federal Labour Market Impact Assessment, the wage you are earning at the time of registration and/or application must be equivalent to or greater than the wage stated in the employment offer letter and on the Labour Market Impact Assessment.

Only if your spouse or common-law partner has a valid work permit and is currently employed in B.C., their annual wage be included in the calculation of the family income.

The table under comprises the size of your family unit to determine if you meet the minimum family income threshold for your area of residence.

• Please note that your spouse will be included in the size of your family unless you provide a signed Statutory Declaration of your official separation, a Divorce Certificate, or an equivalent official document indicating that the relationship has ended.
• The number of declared dependents on your federal application for permanent residence to IRCC must match the number of dependants listed on your BC PNP application
• The BC PNP must be informed of any changes to your family size throughout the BC PNP and IRCC permanent residence application process. Any changes to your dependant information may affect minimum income requirements.
• Failure to notify the BC PNP of any changes may result in a refusal of your application or withdrawal of your nomination.

Language Requirements – Skills Immigration

Whether English language test results are required or not for the category you’re applying for, having one may positively influence your registration score.

You are not required to submit valid language test results if you are registering and/or applying with a job offer in a National Occupational Classification(NOC) Skill Level 0 or A. However, the BC PNP may demand valid test results to validate your language proficiency to perform the onuses/responsibilities of the position.

You are required to submit valid language test results if you are registering and/or applying with a job offer in a National Occupational Classification(NOC) Skill Level B, C or D. Your test results must show a minimum score equivalent to or greater than the benchmark 4 under the Canadian Language Benchmark 2000 (CLB) in all the four dimensions namely listening, speaking, reading and writing.

A score of 4 under the CLB is considered Basic Proficiency and means that you are capable of:

• Communicating for your basic needs and personal experience
• Following, with considerable effort, simple formal and informal conversations
• Reading a simple set of instructions in plain language
• Writing short messages, postcards, notes or directions

The language proficiency tests that are considered are:

• The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) General Training
• The Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP-General)
• The Test d’évaluation de français (TEF)

Test results are considered valid for a period of two years from the date of issue. Test results must be valid at the time of registration AND application.

The following table shows the minimum scores required in each of the designated tests: