BC PNP in 2026: Care, Build, Innovate and the streams

This guide is for skilled workers, health professionals, graduates and families who hope to settle in British Columbia and want to know how the BC Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) selects people in 2026. BC rebuilt its program in April 2026, so check every older article you read against what is below.

Who British Columbia suits

BC suits people who hold, or can get, a full-time, indeterminate job offer from an eligible BC employer and who have at least two years of full-time work experience. Almost everything in the BC PNP now starts with that job offer.

You are in the strongest position if your work falls under one of BC's three 2026 goals:

Care — 36 in-demand occupations in healthcare, education, childcare and veterinary care;
Build — nine skilled trades;
Innovate — jobs with a high economic impact, in any sector.

BC also expects at least 35% of its nominations to go to people outside Metro Vancouver, so a job in the Interior, the North or on Vancouver Island deserves serious thought.

BC suits fewer people than before if your plan was an entry-level job or a student stream: the Entry Level and Semi-Skilled stream is closed, and BC has said it will not launch new student streams.

How the BC PNP works in 2026

A nomination is not permanent residence. It is BC's recommendation; you then apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which checks medicals, security and admissibility and decides.

There are two kinds of nomination. A base nomination is made outside Express Entry, and you apply to IRCC directly. An enhanced nomination — BC calls this option Express Entry BC (EEBC) — is linked to your Express Entry profile and adds 600 points to your CRS score. In 2026, federal draws for provincial nominees have had cut-offs in the 700s and 800s, far above the cut-offs of most other draws.

The steps are:

Register in the BC PNP Online portal and choose your stream. Registration is free. Your registration is scored on human-capital and economic factors and stays valid for 12 months.
Wait in the registration pool. BC issues invitations to apply (ITAs) selectively, in line with its Care, Build and Innovate goals.
Apply within 30 calendar days of your invitation. The application fee is $1,750.
Receive BC's decision, then apply to IRCC.

BC's 2026 allocation is 6,254 nominations, after the federal government added 1,000 in August 2026. Nationally, the provinces and territories received 43,999 nomination spaces for 2026, with 10,000 more reserved by IRCC for licensed doctors and francophone immigration.

The streams open now

Skills Immigration now has two streams. Both require a full-time, indeterminate job offer from an eligible BC employer, two years of full-time-equivalent experience, at least CLB 4, the qualifications your occupation needs, and wages that meet BC's requirements. Details: BC PNP for workers.

Skilled Worker stream. For jobs in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3. If you also have a valid Express Entry profile, you can use the EEBC option for an enhanced nomination.

Health Authority stream. For occupations eligible under BC's health authorities. It also has an EEBC option. In 2026 BC added a one-time initiative for up to 250 health-authority cleaning and security workers in rural areas.

Entrepreneur Immigration. BC keeps its Base, Regional and Strategic Projects entrepreneur streams. These are separate from Skills Immigration and have their own rules on investment, business plans and performance; read them on WelcomeBC before you commit funds.

Two federal pilots also take people into BC communities: the Rural Community Immigration Pilot in West Kootenay, North Okanagan Shuswap and Peace Liard, and the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot in Kelowna. Both need a job offer from a designated employer and the community's recommendation — see IRCC's community list.

What changed in 2025–2026

January 2025: the cut. BC's allocation, like every province's, was cut sharply for 2025. Selection became much narrower.
25 March 2025: no job-offer points. A job offer no longer earns CRS points in Express Entry. In BC, a job offer helps through the BC PNP, not through your CRS score.
22 January 2026: higher fee. The application fee rose from $1,475 to $1,750.
23 April 2026: Care, Build, Innovate. BC rebuilt its selection around these three goals and set the target of at least 35% of nominations outside Metro Vancouver. French-speaking K–12 teachers are prioritised using the federal francophone spaces.
August 2026: 1,000 more nominations, bringing 2026 to 6,254.
Closed: the Entry Level and Semi-Skilled stream (last invitations on 10 December 2024) and the international graduate streams; BC has said it will not launch new student streams.

Priority occupations and sectors

BC's 2026 priorities are healthcare, education, childcare and veterinary care (Care), nine skilled trades (Build) and high economic impact jobs (Innovate). Within Care, BC highlights certified early childhood educators and French-speaking public-school teachers. You can browse occupations on this site at /occupations/.

Nurses. Nurses educated outside Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US — including nurses from India — follow the BC College of Nurses and Midwives' standard path: an assessment by Inspire Global Assessments, a BCCNM application and verification, a decision on substantial equivalency, transitional education if gaps are found, the NCLEX-RN, and then a practising licence. NNAS is not required, and fees can be reimbursed through BC's IEN Bursary. Practical nurses write the REx-PN.

Teachers. BC uses Pathways to Teach Canada as the entry point for credential assessment; the fee is CAD 500 since 14 July 2026. Certification itself is issued by BC's Teacher Certification Branch.

Express Entry still matters. Federal healthcare and social services, trades and French-language draws ran through 2026 — see Express Entry.

Students and graduates

BC no longer has an international graduate or post-graduate stream, and it has said it will not launch new ones. A BC degree or diploma is still valuable, but your route to nomination is now the Skilled Worker or Health Authority stream, with a qualifying job offer and two years of experience.

Federally, one year of skilled work in Canada can make you eligible for the Canadian Experience Class, and a Canadian post-secondary credential adds 15 or 30 CRS points. If you are choosing a programme in BC, choose one that leads into a Care, Build or Innovate occupation.

Families and settling in

Your spouse or partner and dependent children are normally included in your permanent residence application once you are nominated.
Spousal open work permits are now limited to spouses of workers in TEER 0–1 or priority-sector jobs, and of master's and doctoral students. Check this before your spouse plans to work.
BC expects at least 35% of its nominations to go outside Metro Vancouver. Think as a family about which region you are ready to live in, because that may decide which jobs, and which pilots, are open to you.
Nurses and teachers should start licensing early; the regulator's timeline usually sets the pace.

Following BC draws on this site

We report BC PNP invitations, stream notices and allocation changes under /category/pnp-news/, and collect the background by subject at /topics/. For federal Express Entry rounds, including the provincial-nominee draws, follow IRCNews.

How Polinsys helps

Joy Stephen, RCIC (CICC licence R419719), gives you an honest written assessment before any fee: whether your job offer meets BC's requirements, which stream and goal your occupation falls under, whether the EEBC option makes sense for you, and whether another province or a federal route suits you better. If you go ahead, we prepare your registration and application, check your employer's documents, and then prepare your permanent residence application to IRCC. We never promise a result. Ask your questions first at our free Friday Q&A: https://polinsys.com/webinar/.