British Columbia becomes first province to announce its nomination allocation for 2026
British Columbia’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) has announced its 2026 nomination allocation, and it is lower than the province requested for the year.
It is the first province to do so, with more expected to follow suit in the coming weeks or months.
The BC PNP published this announcement on its official PNP updates webpage on December 18, 2025.
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For 2026, the federal government granted British Columbia a total of 5,254 nomination spaces.
This is an increase of approximately 31% compared to the nomination allocation that the federal government granted British Columbia at the beginning of 2025 (which was just 4,000 slots).
However, over the course of 2025, the federal government gave the province additional slots twice:
- October 2, 2025: 1,254 additional nominations granted.
- December 15, 2025: 960 additional nominations granted.
Taking the additional allocations into account, British Columbia ended 2025 with 6,214 nomination spaces, a higher number than its 2026 nomination allocation.
In the recent update, the province states that it originally requested 9,000 slots for 2026 as part of a broader effort to respond to labour market needs and strengthen the provincial workforce.
That means that its announced allocation total falls short of its original request by 41.6%.
British Columbia has flagged that it will remain in active discussions with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) regarding its 2026 allocation, suggesting the BC PNP may be granted additional nominations should negotiations prove successful.
Based on British Columbia’s 2026 nomination allocation, it’s likely that other provinces will also see an increase in nominations compared to their original allotment in 2025.
For reference: In 2025, the permanent resident (PR) admissions target for the PNP was 55,000 (versus 110,000 the year prior), whereas for 2026 it was increased to 91,500—as per the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan (a 66% increase).
Most provinces and territories received additional nominations throughout 2025, so it’s unclear whether other provinces can expect their 2026 nomination allocation to be equal to or higher than the total they ended the year with.
Who is the BC PNP prioritizing in 2026?
In 2025, the BC PNP’s priorities included healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and high economic impact candidates, but it is unclear at this time whether these priorities will continue in 2026.
For the time being, the province is still mapping out how to best use this “limited allocation,” and it expects to communicate its priority areas for 2026 in the new year.
2025 BC PNP invitations
Over the course of 2025, the province invited 978 high economic impact candidates through its Skills Immigration category, and no more than 132 entrepreneurs through its Entrepreneur Immigration category.
While majority of its draws 19 draws in 2025 focused on entrepreneurs—16 total—its three Skills Immigration draws racked up the higher invitation count.
Unless British Columbia holds more draws this year, it will have issued no more than 1,110 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) for provincial nomination in 2025.
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