British Columbia nears cap on skilled worker invitations in first draw of 2025

British Columbia has held its first provincial immigration draw of 2025 under its skills immigration program, inviting candidates based on their potential for “high economic impact” in the province.

Prior to this draw on May 8, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) had only held draws under its entrepreneur streams in 2025.

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Draw results

The BC PNP held a single immigration draw, inviting 94 candidates to apply for provincial nomination.

Candidates were invited based on

• Holding a minimum wage of $105/hour, while currently working for their supporting employer in a skilled job that was classified at National Occupation Classification (NOC) Training Education Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) level 0; OR
• Holding a minimum score of 150 points, according to the BC PNP’s candidate scoring system.

The 94 invitations to apply (ITAs) issued were evenly split between these two criteria.

The BC PNP previously announced that it would only nominate “approximately 100” candidates through its high-economic skills immigration pathway in response to greatly reduced provincial nomination allocations from the federal government.

The BC PNP advises that future high economic impact skills immigration draws may be based on different factors. These can include a candidate’s

• Education – specifically the level and field of education, and where it was completed;
• Professional designation in British Columbia;
• Language skills;
• Occupation;
• Duration and skill level of work experience;
• Wage and/or skill level of job offer;
• Intent to live, work, and settle in a specific region in British Columbia; and/or
• Strategic priorities – specifically, factors that address specific labour market needs in B.C., or support government pilot projects and initiatives.

Wider outlook for the BC PNP

The BC PNP plans on accepting only 1,100 net new applications for provincial nomination in 2025.

Assuming that the province has reached its vaguely stated cap (and that all applications resulting from this draw are approved for provincial nomination), the remainder of the BC PNP’s provincial nominations will be allocated to

• Front-line healthcare workers and managers in healthcare; and
• Entrepreneurs.

In addition, British Columbia has also announced major changes to multiple immigration streams of the BC PNP, including

• A pause on general and priority occupations draws for 2025;
• The waitlisting of applications under the International Post-Graduate (IPG) Stream received between September 2024 and January 2025;
• The postponement of three new student immigration streams until the restoration of the BC PNP’s provincial allocation;
• New limitations on the Health Authority Stream to front-line healthcare workers and managers in healthcare only; and
• The exclusion of Early Childhood Educator Assistants from education draws, creating a new focus on Early Childhood Educators (ECEs).

To learn more about major changes to the BC PNP, read our article covering these major changes.

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