On November 28th, British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program held both a general and targeted draw. There were 253 invitations to apply (ITAs) issued for general candidates, and at least 75 ITAs for targeted professions.
With the exception of Quebec and Nunavut, all provinces have their own Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), which are economic immigration pathways for provincial governments to nominate foreign skilled talent for immigration.
As the main economic immigration pathway for foreign workers into Canada, the PNP will likely overtake the Express Entry managed programs by 2024.
November 28th – December 2nd: Results of the Provincial Nomination Draw
Only British Columbia held a PNP draw this week, issuing over 300 total ITAs, with varying CRS cut-offs. BCPNP drew from all streams, including:
- Skilled Worker
- Skilled Worker-EEBC Option
- International Graduate
- International Graduate-EEBC option
- Entry Level and Semi-Skilled Worker streams
Furthermore, British Columbia also held a targeted draw for specific professions that the province is seeking to fill.
- Early childhood educators and assistants
- Healthcare workers
- Healthcare assistants
- Other priority occupations, specifically Veterinarians, Animal health technologists, and veterinary technicians
Below is the complete draw breakdown, including the minimum CRS score for each stream:
| Date | Stream | Number of Invitations | Minimum Score | Description | ||
| 28th of November 2022 | Skilled Worker | 253 | 105 | General draw (includes tech occupations) | ||
| Skilled Worker – EEBC option | 105 | |||||
| International Graduate | 105 | |||||
| International Graduate – EEBC option | 105 | |||||
| Entry Level and Semi-Skilled | 82 | |||||
| 28th of November 2022 | Skilled Worker, International Graduate (includes EEBC option) | 49 | 60 | Targeted draw: Childcare: Early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 42202) | ||
| Skilled Worker, International Graduate, Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (includes EEBC option) | 24 | 60 | Targeted draw: Healthcare (unless specified below) | |||
| Entry Level and Semi-Skilled | <5 | 60 | Targeted draw: Healthcare: Healthcare assistants (NOC 33102) | |||
| Skilled Worker, International Graduate (includes EEBC option) | <5 | 60 | Targeted draw: Other priority occupations (NOCs 31103, 32104) | |||
NOC changes and their impact
In the last two weeks, there has been only one PNP draw. Changing the National Occupation Classification (NOC) codes at the end of the year has had a significant impact on economic immigration to Canada.
It was announced on the 16th of November that Canada would be moving from the 2016 NOC codes to the new 2021 NOC codes. Despite these changes mainly being for classification purposes, 16 new occupations have also been added to the Express Entry eligibility list.
Considering that NOCs are the primary way to categorize jobs for economic immigration, they affect both Express Entry managed systems and PNPs (British Columbia recently updated their scoring system to reflect the new NOCs).
Since this change took effect on November 16th, there have only been three draws (including the above draw on November 28th). As provinces adjust their programs to the new classifications and job titles, PNPs will likely return to operating more regularly.
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