News

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) has issued no fewer than 474 invitations to apply (ITAs) over two days of draws—to both skilled workers and entrepreneurs wishing to settle permanently in the province.

The majority of skills immigration (SI) invitations were issued to workers who were chosen for their strong potential for economic impact on the province.

The lion’s share of entrepreneur immigration invitations was issued under the base stream, with fewer going out under the province’s regional stream.

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February 10, Entrepreneur Immigration

On February 10, the BC PNP issued no fewer than 14 invitations across both of its Entrepreneur Immigration streams, prioritizing candidates under the base stream for ITAs:

Date Stream Minimum Score Number of invitations issued 
February 10 Base 121 13 
Regional  105 <5* 

*The BC PNP regularly lists smaller draw totals ambiguously to help preserve the anonymity of successful candidates.

The BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration – Base stream lets you start or buy a business anywhere in British Columbia. It has higher financial requirements (minimum $600,000 net worth and $200,000 investment) and typically doesn’t require a community referral, since it isn’t tied to a specific participating town or region.

The Entrepreneur Immigration – Regional stream is designed for entrepreneurs who will set up a new business in a participating regional community, and it generally requires an exploratory visit and a community referral. It has lower minimum thresholds (about $300,000 net worth and $100,000 investment), usually requires at least 51% ownership, and often expects you to show language results earlier in the process than the Base stream.

February 11, Skills Immigration

On February 11, the BC PNP issued 460 ITAs to skilled workers that the province had determined would be able to “create high economic impact”.

To qualify under the draw, candidates needed to have:

A minimum wage of $62/hour and $125,000/year, along with a job offer in an occupation classified as National Occupation Classification (NOC) Training Education Experience and Responsibility (TEER) 0, 1, 2, or 3; or
A minimum score of 135 points.

The breakdown of these invitations is given below:

Date Invited under Invitations issued 
February 11 Wage + Job offer 195 
≥135 Points 265 

As of February 8, the current breakdown of profile scores within the Skills Immigration pool is as follows:

Score range Number of registrations 
150+ 4 
140–149 12 
130–139 688 
120–129 1,197 
110–119 1,647 
100–109 2,134 
90–99 1,979 
80–89 1,529 
70–79 1,001 
60–69 468 
0–59 329 
Total 10,988 

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