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PNP: Provincial Nominee Program
The Provincial Nominee Program in British Columbia is BC’s way of fast-tracking the immigration process for people with skills that are in demand.
There are two streams:
Strategic Occupations
B.C. uses this category to address skill shortages. The program is employer driven. You must find an employer who will offer you a job and sponsor you under this program. In theory any job where the employer needs to recruit outside of Canada is eligible for this program. There are however four categories:
Full details on this aspect of the PNP are available on the CIC Strategic Occupations page
Business Categories
The Business Categories class accelerates the process for qualified individuals and their families. If accepted you get a two year temporary work permit during which time you must fulfil the terms of your agreement (depending on your category) and then you are granted Permanent Resident status. There are three categories:
Business Skills
There are financial requirements and you need to develop and run a business that creates five new jobs.
Projects
This is to allow existing companies to recruit key staff for new business expansion.
Regional Business
This is similar to the Business Skills category but applies to the development of businesses located outside the Greater Vancouver area. It currently has less stringent financial requirements than the Business Skills category.
General information on Provincial Nominee Programs, which includes other Provinces, is available at the CIC Web Site.
