BC PNP to Prioritize Health Workers, Entrepreneurs and High-Impact Applicants in 2025
On April 14, 2025, the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) announced a significant shift in its approach to immigration for 2025. This comes in response to the 50% reduction in provincial nomination allocations from the federal government, which has lowered B.C.’s annual cap from 8,000 to only 4,000 nominations for this year.
To make the most effective use of its limited allocation, BC PNP will prioritize candidates who fill critical labour market gaps and contribute significantly to the economy. This includes:
- Healthcare workers directly involved in service delivery (e.g., doctors, nurses, allied health professionals)
- Entrepreneurs investing in and creating jobs in the province
- Skilled workers who are expected to generate high economic impact
Out of the 4,000 nominations:
- About 1,100 will be reserved for new applications from these three target groups.
- The remaining 2,900 nominations will be used to process existing applications already in the inventory (approx. 5,200 at the start of 2025).
Additional key updates:
- The International Post-Graduate (IPG) applications submitted between Sept 1, 2024 and Jan 7, 2025 will be placed on a waitlist.
- General and occupation-specific draws will be paused for the year. Instead, the program will issue a very limited number of invitations (~100) to Skills Immigration candidates who show the potential for strong economic contribution. These candidates will be selected from a pool of over 10,000 registrants.
- The first round of these targeted Invitations to Apply (ITAs) is expected to begin in early May.
- The Entrepreneur Immigration stream will continue to issue invitations throughout 2025.
- In consultation with the Ministry of Education, future targeted ITAs in the early childhood sector will now focus only on Early Childhood Educators—Assistant roles are no longer eligible.
- In coordination with the Ministry of Health, new guidelines will be developed for social workers and community service workers to improve clarity and eligibility standards.
- BC PNP aims to return to its standard 3-month processing time for new applications submitted in 2025.
- The launch of three new international student streams has been paused until further notice.
- The province has reaffirmed its commitment to working with IRCC to support work permit extensions for eligible nominees.
B.C. emphasized it will continue pushing for increased nomination allocations from the federal government in order to attract and retain the talent needed to support the province’s long-term economic growth.
Reference: welcomebc
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