The province of British Columbia has announced that it will accept up to 50 applications for Canadian permanent residence under the Skills Immigration stream of the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP). The application intake period came into effect on November 10, 2015.

Applications to this employer-driven stream are invited for individuals in occupations that offer wages over $100,000 a year in British Columbia. These in-demand occupations include senior construction, transportation, manufacturing and engineering managers, industrial and electrical engineers, as well as specialized software developers or technology professionals.

In a statement, the BCPNP said that “The BC PNP was redesigned in July this year to make a targeted shift towards attracting high-impact workers and entrepreneurs that with B.C.'s labour market and economic development priorities. This intake is focussed specifically on attracting applicants who are in high-wage occupations and meet those priorities.”

British Columbia had previously announced in early September that it had placed a temporary halt on accepting new applications to the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) Skills Immigration stream and Express Entry stream, and added that these streams would reopen in early 2016. Consequently, the announcement that a portion of the Skills Immigration stream (albeit a small portion) was reopening came as a surprise.

The BCPNP continues to process applications already in the inventory. The addition of 50 applications will not have an impact on the processing times of existing applications.