British Columbia PNP receives more nominations, will process waitlisted International Post-Graduate applications

British Columbia has received an increase of 1,254 nominations under the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP), and will begin processing some International Post-Graduate (IPG) applications submitted in 2024.

The total nomination allocation under the BC PNP for 2025 is now 5,254—up from 4,000.

With this rise in allocations, the province has recovered approximately 69% of its 2024 provincial nomination allocation of 8,000 slots.

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The Government of British Columbia announced the increased allocations on its website on October 2, 2025.

How will these additional nominations be used?

In response to receiving more nomination slots, the province plans to apply the additional nominations towards processing a portion of the 2,240 waitlisted International Post-Graduate (IPG) Stream applications it received last year.

Earlier this year (April 14), British Columbia announced that it would be waitlisting IPG applications received between September 1, 2024 and January 7, 2025 until more nominations became available.

Beyond this focus, the province will use the increase in nominations towards its existing priorities, which includes bringing more healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and high economic impact candidates to the province.

British Columbia has stated that it is continuing to advocate for additional nominations for the BC PNP, and it will not be expanding on other priorities in 2025 until more have been obtained.

Why was the BC PNP allocated initially reduced?

In response to growing concerns over Canada’s housing market and the rising pressure on social service programs, the federal government has been working to steadily decrease overall immigration numbers.

In the 2025-27 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government detailed that the permanent resident admissions target for 2025 would be 395,000 (compared to 485,000 in 2024).

As part of this overall reduction, Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) saw their nomination allocations slashed by 50%, resulting a target of only 55,000 landings across all PNPs—down from the previous year’s 110,000.

Invitations issued in 2025 to date

So far this year, British Columbia has focused primarily on welcoming entrepreneurs to the province, with the majority of its draws being centered around its Entrepreneur Immigration category.

Only two of its nine draws have focused on inviting skilled workers through its Skills Immigration category this year, although this category makes up the bulk of invitations issued.

Below are the total number of invitations issued through the BC PNP’s draw to date in 2025.

Skills Immigration:

Draw date	Number of invitations issued
May 8, 2025	94
October 2, 2025	474
Total	568

Entrepreneur Immigration:

Draw date	Number of invitations issued
January 28, 2025	<10
March 18, 2025	<13
April 15, 2025	5
May 28, 2025	<14
July 8, 2025	<17
August 19, 2025	<16
October 2, 2025	11
Total	No more than 86

Provinces and territories that have received increased allocations

Following the federal government’s 50% reduction in PNP nomination allocations for 2025, provincial and territorial governments have maintained their calls for increased allocations to more effectively meet their economic and social priorities.

British Columbia is just the latest province to receive an increase in nominations from the federal government, following several others.

Throughout the year, other provinces and territories have announced increases of their own, including