British Columbia holds latest Provincial Nomination draws as PNPs slow
British Columbia is the only province to hold a general or targeted draw in the last week.
The (BCPNP) British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) held both a general and targeted draw on November 28th.
The province issued 253 invitations to apply (ITAs) for general candidates, and at least 75 ITAs to targeted professions .
All provinces (with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut) hold their own Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs); an economic immigration pathway by which provincial governments can nominate foreign skilled talent to immigrate to their province, and address labour needs.
The PNP has become a huge addition to Canada’s immigration programs, and is expected to overtake the Express Entry managed programs by 2024; as the main economic immigration pathway for foreign workers to Canada.
Provincial Nomination Draw Results: November 28th – Dec 2nd
This week only British Columbia held a PNP draw, issuing over 300 total ITAs, with varying CRS cut-offs per each stream. The BCPNP drew across all streams of the BCPNP, which encompasses the:
- Skilled Worker;
- Skilled Worker-EEBC Option;
- International Graduate;
- International Graduate-EEBC option; and
- Entry Level and Semi-Skilled Worker streams.
Additionally British Columbia also held a targeted draw under these streams for specific professions that the province is looking to fill. These are:
- Early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202);
- Healthcare workers;
- Healthcare assistants (NOC 33102); and
- Other priority occupations, specifically Veterinarians (NOC 31103) and Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians (NOC 32104).
The entire draw breakdown, including minimum CRS score for each stream can be found below:
The Impact of NOC changes
The last two weeks have seen only one PNP draw. While the end of the year does tend to bring a slowdown in activity, one important policy change has greatly impacted economic immigration to Canada: updating of the National Occupation Classification (NOC) codes.
On the 16th of November, Canada changed from the 2016 NOC to the new 2021 NOC codes. While these changes are largely for classification purposes, it is important to note that 16 new occupations have also been added to the Express Entry eligibility list.
As the NOCs are the main way to classify jobs for economic immigration, they impact both the Express Entry managed systems and the PNPs (British Columbia for example recently updated their scoring system in accordance with the new NOCs).
In fact, there have only been three draws (including the above November 28th draw) since this change took effect on the 16th of November. It is likely that as provinces continue to adjust their programs to the new classifications and added job titles, that PNPs will return to operating more regularly.
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