British Columbia holds largest immigration draw of 2026 for high-earning and high-scoring candidates

British Columbia has selected 722 workers for provincial immigration based on their earnings or registration scores.

The province issued the invitations on Oct. 29, according to a same-day update to its Invitations to Apply web page.

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Workers who received invitations will have the opportunity to pursue Canadian permanent residence (PR). They can submit applications for provincial nomination within a 30-day period after being invited.

If a worker is successfully nominated by the province, they can apply to the federal government for PR.

After submitting a permanent residence application, an in-Canada applicant may also be eligible to apply for a bridging open work permit (BOWP), which can be issued for up to two years.

An applicant who applies for a BOWP prior to the expiry of their existing permit will be authorized to work through maintained status until they receive a decision on their BOWP application, provided they remain in Canada.

Draw results

In British Columbia’s 29th draw of the year, candidates were invited based on their wage/salary (tied to a TEER 0–3 job offer), or their profile registration score.

At $49 per hour and $99,000 per year, the threshold for the wage-based selection fell below $50 per hour and $100,000 per year for the first time in 2026.

The invitations fell under British Columbia’s “innovate” objective, which focuses on skilled workers employed across a variety of occupations and sectors.

British Columbia did not disclose which occupations or sectors were represented among candidates invited under this objective.

The province has now held nine draws aligned with the innovate objective in 2026.

As of Oct. 29, the BCPNP had issued a combined 4,746 invitations through draws targeting candidates based on either wage/salary and job offer criteria or registration scores.

The table below details how British Columbia’s latest round compares with previous innovate-focused draws held over the year:

*Each wage/salary-based selection required candidates to also have a TEER 0–3 job offer.

Across all worker and entrepreneur streams and selection criteria, the BCPNP has issued no fewer than 7,220 invitations to apply for provincial nomination in 2026.

According to the BCPNP, future high-economic-impact invitations may be based on one or more of the following selection factors:

• Education level, field, and location of study;
• Professional designations in B.C.;
• Length and skill level of work experience;
• Language proficiency;
• Occupation;
• Job offer wage and/or skill level;
• Intended region of residence and employment; and
• Strategic priorities supporting the province’s labour market needs, projects, or initiatives.

Makeup of the Skills Immigration pool

The BCPNP requires foreign nationals to register an EOI profile before they can be considered for selection under the Skills Immigration (SI) category.

Registrants receive a score based on their profile information and are placed in the corresponding registration pool(s).

The province draws from these pools periodically, inviting candidates who score competitively and satisfy the selection criteria for each round.

The latest available update shows 7,695 profiles in the SI registration pool as of Oct. 6:

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