The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) accelerates the Permanent Resident application process for skilled and/or experienced workers, experienced business persons and their family members who want to settle in BC permanently. It allows nominees to apply for Permanent Resident status through Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) under the fast-tracked Provincial Nominee stream – which can be faster than applying through many federal immigration streams.

 

Who administers the BC PNP?

The program is administered on behalf of the Province of BC by the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation in collaboration with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) – the federal government department responsible for Canadian immigration.

 

(I) Business Immigration

The Business Immigrants component of BC’s PNP considers applications from experienced business entrepreneurs who plan to invest in and actively manage an eligible business in BC

Business Immigrants fall into one of three categories:

• business skills
• regional business
• strategic projects

Each of these categories has different requirements for the minimum personal net worth of the applicant, the amount of investment, the geographic location within BC and the number of Canadian employees in the proposed business.

 

(i) Business Skills

Applicants for nomination in the Business Skills category will be required to:

1. Make a personal investment of at least $400,000 CAD to establish or to purchase and expand an eligible business anywhere in BC
2. Create at least three new jobs in the business for Canadians or permanent residents,
except when the applicant is applying as a regional Succession Plan Buy-out which reduces this requirement by one job for each existing job to be maintained.
3. Own at least one third (33 1/3%) of the equity of the business.
4. Provide active and on-going participation in the day to day management and direction of the business.
5. Demonstrate that they have:
o the skills and experience necessary to establish and operate a commercially viable business in BC
o a personal net worth of at least $800,000 CAD obtained from legal sources
o sufficient unencumbered personal funds to make the required investment and
o a viable business proposal
6. Sign a performance agreement with the Province of British Columbia.
7. Satisfy the conditions of the Performance Agreement in order to be nominated for permanent residence.

 

Principal Applicants and Key Staff

Principal applicants in Business Skills category may include one foreign, key staff essential to the proposed business as a co-applicant for nomination, but must still create three jobs for Canadians or permanent residents.

 

Business Succession Plan Buy-out

Business Skills applicants who commit to purchase an existing business will have their stipulated job creation requirements reduced by one job for each existing job that is to be maintained for Canadian citizens or permanent residents. These applications will receive priority processing.

In addition to meeting the requirements for the business skills category, the following additional requirements must be met.

The target business must:

• be located outside of the Vancouver metropolitan area and the Abbotsford metropolitan area

• be operated by the same owner for a minimum of 5 years

• have employees, other than family members
• be actively in operation.

The applicant must:

• complete an exploratory visit to meet the retiring owners and, where feasible, the local Economic Development Office
• provide evidence that reasonable efforts have been made to establish a fair market value for the target business
• operate the business for a minimum of one full year prior to being considered for nomination (or deposit refund, in the case of Fast Track nominees), with long term
intentions of continuing to operate the business
• the succession plan buy-out transaction is to result in a complete change of ownership
whereby the purchaser(s) take full control of the business.

 

(ii) Regional Business Category

Applicants for nomination in the Regional Business category will be required to:

1. Make a personal investment of at least $200,000 CAD to establish or to purchase and expand an eligible business anywhere in BC outside of the Vancouver metropolitan area and the Abbotsford metropolitan area
2. Create at least one new job in the business for a Canadian or permanent resident, except
when the applicant is applying as a regional Succession Plan Buy-out.
3. Own at least one third (33 1/3%) of the equity of the business.
4. Provide active and on-going participation in the day-to-day management and direction of the business.
5. Demonstrate that they have:
o the skills and experience necessary to establish and operate a commercially viable business in BC
o a personal net worth of at least $400,000 CAD obtained from legal sources
o sufficient unencumbered personal funds to make the required investment; and
o a viable business proposal.
6. Sign a Performance Agreement with the Province of British Columbia.
7. Satisfy the conditions of the Performance Agreement in order to be nominated for permanent residence.

 

(II) Strategic Occupations

The Strategic Occupations component of the Provincial Nominee Program helps BC employers recruit or retain qualified foreign workers to help meet current and future labour needs. Nominee applicants under the Strategic Occupations component must either have a job offer of indeterminate length from a BC employer or have completed a masters or doctorate degree at a BC post-secondary institution in either the natural, applied or health sciences.

For applications where a job offer is required, the employer and the nominee applicant (potential employee) submit a joint application to the BC PNP. The need to employ foreign workers in an occupation is assessed based upon current and projected labour market conditions and economic benefit to the province.

The Strategic Occupations component has five areas of focus:

• skilled workers
• recent international graduates from eligible Canadian post-secondary institutions
• recent masters and doctorate graduates from a BC post-secondary institution in the natural, applied or health sciences (for this category only no job offer is required)
• designated health professionals
• entry-level or semi-skilled workers in select occupations

 

(i) Skilled Workers

Skilled workers normally have post-secondary education or training with several years of employment experience in a professional, management, technical, trades or other skilled occupation.

Requirements

The requirements considered for applications under Skilled Workers are:

• Occupation
• Demand and outlook for the occupation
• Wage
• Qualifications
• Offer of employment
• Eligible employers
• Ability to become economically established
• Refugees & Removal Orders

 

Occupation

• The BC PNP uses the National Occupational Classification (NOC) to classify jobs according to the duties, formal qualifications and experience required by the employer.
• The BC PNP will only consider applications for positions under Skill Levels O, A and B of the National Occupational Classification Matrix National Occupational Classification
(NOC). These positions normally require formal post-secondary qualifications and several years of directly related work experience.
• The NOC helps determine whether the job meets the skill levels established for Strategic Occupations, and whether the nominee candidate’s qualifications and experience match
the requirements of the job. The NOC is also used to identify relevant information on wage rates and labour availability for the occupation.

Demand and Outlook for the Occupation

The BC PNP considers employers’ applications to hire skilled foreign workers in relation to the current demand and future outlook for specific occupations. In making this assessment, any unique or highly specialized skill requirements for particular jobs are taken into account.

Applications will not be approved for occupations where there is a current surplus of workers domestically, or where future prospects for employment in the occupation are poor.

To assess the demand for particular skilled occupations, the BC PNP consults labour market information from Service Canada/HRSDC, Statistics Canada, the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation and industry organizations.

The outlook for future employment in particular occupations is based on information from the Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS), national sector councils, Statistics Canada and other sources.

Employers supporting applications to the BC PNP will need to indicate the duration of unfilled vacancies and their recruitment efforts in BC

Wage

The wage the employer intends to pay the nominee applicant must be at market rate and comparable to that for equivalent jobs in BC, for workers with a similar level of experience and training.

Bonuses, commissions, profit-sharing distributions or similar payments to the employee are NOT considered as part of the wage.

The BC PNP uses information from published and unpublished surveys, industry and professional associations and Service Canada/HRSDC to compare wages. Company size, geographic location, skill and experience levels are considered to calculate wage rates.

 

Qualifications

The nominee applicant must be qualified for the job that the employer is looking to fill. This normally requires several years of directly-related experience in the position the employer is seeking to fill. Program staff will review the nominee applicant’s qualifications and experience to confirm that employment requirements are met. At its discretion, the BC PNP may direct nominee applicants to an independent assessment of their credentials performed by an approved organization to establish equivalency with British Columbia or Canadian standards.

The employer is responsible for determining whether the position to be filled is a regulated occupation that requires mandatory certification, licensing or registration. If this is the case, evidence must be provided in the application that the candidate meets, or is able to meet, these requirements.

 

Offer of Employment

Employers must provide the nominee applicant with a written offer of employment which must be signed by both parties.

The offer must state:

• The job title and duties
• The rate of pay
• The employee’s standard hours of work
• That the position is both indeterminate and full-time in nature (a normal probationary period of employment may be specified)

A job that is indeterminate (sometimes referred to as “permanent”) has no pre-determined end date. Full-time employment means that the employee is expected to work year round and, on average, at least 30 hours a week.

The employer and the nominee applicant must be establishing an employer-employee relationship: applications will not be approved for individuals hired under a contract for service or independent contractor agreement.

If the employer is offering benefits in addition to the statutory requirements, those benefits should be noted in the offer (e.g. pension or medical plans, disability insurance, sick pay, extra paid vacations).

If the position is covered by a collective agreement, that agreement should be referenced.

The written offer must be on official company letterhead and addressed to the nominee applicant. The offer must be signed and dated by a person authorized to hire employees, and also by the nominee applicant, to indicate their acceptance.

 

Eligible Employer

Employers must meet certain requirements to be considered eligible under the BC PNP. As the Strategic Occupations component of the BC PNP is a dual application process, if the employer does not meet the requirements, the application will be refused.

 

Ability to Become Economically Established in BC

The potential for nominee applicants to become economically established in BC will be assessed according to their income and employment prospects, number of dependants, English language ability and connections to BC or Canada through work, study, residence and family ties.

 

Refugees & Removal Orders

The Provincial Nominee Program will not nominate an individual who has an unresolved refugee claim in Canada, who is in Canada illegally, who is under a removal order in Canada, or who is prohibited from entering Canada.