Issue#24 Provincial Nomination Program Series - BC PNP
All you need to know to get started on British Columbia's PNP program!
While some issues of this newsletter are accessible to you for free, it is not free to produce.
It takes time to identify topics, guests, research content, arrange interviews, transcribe, write, edit, fact-check and publish each piece. Yup…all this stuff, goes into every piece!
If you find value in the content you have come across in this newsletter, please consider supporting the publication via a subscription. Play an active role in creating a healthy information ecosystem. What YOU support, will thrive!
Subscribing to This Immigrant Life means supporting a rigorous, fact-checked, meaningful immigrant-to-immigrant publication!
Canadian immigration has, for a long time, had a unique feature that has set it apart - straightforward pathways to PR.
While the field has most definitely become more competitive, coupled with the incremental change of a system that is still coming into its own, the overall structure of Canadian immigration has remained broadly consistent since 2015, when Express Entry was first introduced.
Among the aspects that make Canadian immigration is the fact that Provinces and Territories in Canada are recognized as stakeholders in immigration. A typical way in which provinces are able to meet their unique needs and access the talent and skill that immigration offers, is through Provincial Nomination Programs.
What are Provincial Nomination Programs?
All immigration applications are ultimately adjudicated and decided by the federal government via the IRCC.
But, when it comes to selecting who gets to apply for PR, provinces and territories do have some say.
Very simply, the idea is this: Quebec’s needs are very different from Ontario’s or Yukon’s. So, a top-down system where a single entity like IRCC makes decisions on who gets to be a PR in Canada is unlikely to serve the diverse needs of the country.
Today’s issue is on British Columbia’s Provincial Nomination Program, or BC PNP [1]. But, let’s take a few steps back to see where PNPs fit into the larger immigration picture and how this can be useful to you!
Big Picture…
If you are in the PR pool and feel like things are uphill, your feelings are grounded in fact. As per Statistics Canada, there are 1,323,959 work permit holders as of Q2 2024 [2].
Remember, the TOTAL planned PR slots for 2024, is just 485,000.
And that number includes several categories inaccessible to regular skilled immigrants like Family immigration, Refugees and protected person and other Humanitarian pathways (which of course, are important!).
The total number of PR slots for economic streams - the sort that skilled immigrants would use - across ALL programs, is a tiny 281,135.
The math is very, very clear. Converting from Temporary to Permanent Residency in Canada is becoming very challenging and needs awareness, strategy and focussed effort.
An important element in this is understanding the interaction between the provincial and federal programs.
Remember we talked earlier about how provinces get to pick a certain number of people for PR?
Accordingly, in Canada’s immigration (called “Levels plan” in the biz…), there are distinct allotments for PR for provincial programs and federal programs for economic immigration.
You can see that below for 2024 and onwards [6] -
Why does this matter?
For a long time in Canada, nearly everyone that wanted a cookie first reached for the same cookie jar of Express Entry.
Why?
Because it was on a lower shelf.
Doesn’t need a job offer. Offers more flexibility to move.
Easy!
But as Express Entry gets much, much harder it is helpful to realize that the Provincial Nomination cookie jar has an entirely separate batch of PR cookies available for you, even if you have to reach for a higher shelf - work just a little bit harder!
What’s more, you can make a play for both cookie jars at the same time to maximize your chances if you understand the system well.
With this lens, we are going to explore BC PNP today and don’t worry…someone far more knowledgeable than me is going to guide us through this thick fog!
Niall Carry is an incredibly knowledgeable and passionate immigration consultant based out of Vancouver. I highly recommend Niall’s content on LinkedIn and his blog, in particular, where he often has special insights from Access to Information requests that he submits to IRCC and generously shares with the rest of us!