Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
BC PNP Immigration Cuts 2025
British Columbia has recently updated its provincial nominee program, a program many people apply to as a stepping stone towards attaining Canadian permanent residency.
These changes come after the Canadian government reduced the number of people each province can nominate to move to Canada, as indicated in the government’s 2025-2027 immigration levels plan. BC now only has 4,000 spots for all of 2025 which is half as many as they had last year in 2024.
Out of the 4,000 available spots, only 1,100 spots will be allocated to new applicants. BC is targeting people who work in healthcare, those who have high-demand skills, or want to start businesses in the province, to fill these spots. The other 2,900 allocations will go to people who already applied to the program before 2025. BC started the year with 5,200 applications in their inventory since last year, meaning that they already were 1,100 applications over their allocated number of 4,000 spots.
Closed or Paused Immigration Streams
Many immigration programs in BC are now closed or put on a temporary pause. This includes general and targeted draws for Canadian permanent residency. People who were hoping to apply this year have low chances of receiving an invitation to apply (ITA) as approximately only 100 will be receiving ITAs in a pool of 10,000 candidates.
Student Programs Delayed
BC has announced that it plans to launch three new programs for international students which is great news, however, the launch of these streams is now on hold and the province has stated that they will not launch these streams until BC gets more nomination spot allocations in the future.
Graduates Waitlisted
If you finished school in BC and are applying through the International Post-Graduate (IPG) stream between September 1, 2024, and January 7, 2025, your application will not be processed right away, and you will likely be waitlisted. Other IPG applications submitted outside of these dates will still be processed, but processing times may be lengthy.
Front-Line Healthcare Worker Priority
The Health Authority category has changed. Before, it was open to all health authority workers. Now, it’s only for front-line healthcare workers like doctors and nurses who will be prioritized in this immigration stream.
Changes to Childcare Workers Stream
Early Childhood Educator Assistants will no longer be considered in targeted draws for the Childcare Workers stream. Instead, BC PNP will only target fully qualified Early Childhood Educators applying under the stream. BC is also working on new guidelines for social and community service workers which will be announced at a later date.
Entrepreneur Immigration Stream
Despite most of BCs immigration programs coming to a halt, the Entrepreneur Immigration stream is still open. People who want to start or buy a business in BC can still apply through this program.
The main reason for these changes is due to Canada’s reduced immigration targets for 2025. With fewer allocations this year, BC is strategically prioritizing individuals who can fill critical jobs or help its economy. Despite recent reductions in nomination spots and delays in certain BC immigration streams, targeted pathways like the Entrepreneur Immigration stream and healthcare worker priorities remain available.
BC’s immigration future will depend on securing more nomination spots and adapting to federal policy changes. We will provide updates on the new streams for international students as well as the provinces new guidelines for social and community service workers as they are announced.
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