Posted on April 07 2021

British Columbia PNP: 80 invited in latest Tech Pilot draw

By
Anshul Singhal
, Editor

Updated January 12 2024

The province of British Columbia in Canada has held its latest round of invitations under the Provincial Nominee Program [PNP].

In the first provincial draw to be held this month, a total of 80 Canada immigration hopefuls have received invitations in the latest British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program [BC PNP] draw on April 6, 2021.

Those invited can now proceed to applying for a provincial nomination through the BC PNP for their permanent residence in Canada.

Candidates were invited from the British Columbia PNP categories of Skills Immigration [SI] and Express Entry BC [EEBC].

As this was a BC PNP Tech Pilot draw, invitations went out to candidates with job offers in any of the 29 key tech occupations.

Launched in May 2017, the BC PNP offers an expedited immigration pathway for individuals with tech skills that are applying for Canadian permanent residence and can contribute to the shared prosperity of the province. The Pilot has since then been extended on various occasions. Most recently, the BC PNP Pilot has been extended until June 2021. Aiming at the recruitment and retention of international tech talent wherever local skilled workers were unable, the Tech Pilot has supported more than 4,200 tech workers to be nominated for Canada PR through the BC PNP.

The BC PNP Tech Pilot provides a “fast-tracked, permanent immigration pathway” for international students and in-demand foreign workers.

In order to be eligible for the BC PNP Tech Pilot, an individual must have a valid job offer under any of the 29 eligible occupations.

Moreover, their job offer must be for a minimum of 1 year or 365 days’ duration, with “at least 120 days remaining at the time of application to the BC PNP”.

All program requirements must be met – by the BC employer as well as the employee – at the time of the registration with the BC PNP.

Following successful registration, a score, based on the Skills Immigration Registration System [SIRS] will be allotted to the candidate.

An online points-based application management system, SIRS helps BC in the selection of in-demand workers for meeting the labour market requirements of the province.

An Overview of April 6 BC PNP Tech Pilot draw Total invitations issued: 80
Immigration Streams	Minimum SIRS Score
EEBC – Skilled Worker	80
EEBC – International Graduate	80
SI – Skilled Worker	80
SI – International Graduate	80

The EEBC category of the BC PNP is aligned with the federal Express Entry system.

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A PNP nomination, through any of the Express Entry-aligned PNP streams, is a guarantee of that Express Entry candidate being invited by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada [IRCC] to apply for their permanent residence in Canada.

It is the highest-ranked profiles that are invited. A PNP nomination in itself gets an Express Entry candidate 600 CRS points.

Here, by ‘CRS’ is implied the Comprehensive Ranking System [CRS] that is used for ranking profiles while in the Express Entry pool.

British Columbia has issued a total of 2,989 invitations in the 19 BC PNP draws held so far in 2021.

BC PNP draws in 2021 Total invitations issued so far: 2,989 · Skills Immigration [SI] · Express Entry [EEBC] · Entrepreneur Immigration [EI]
Date	Invitations issued	Categories	Details
January 5, 2021	168	SI and EEBC	Certain occupations excluded.
January 12, 2021	80	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw
January 19, 2021	195	SI and EEBC	Certain occupations excluded.
January 26, 2021	81	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw
February 2, 2021	208	SI and EEBC	Certain occupations excluded.
February 2, 2021	8	EI	Base Category
February 9, 2021	74	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw
February 16, 2021	35	SI and EEBC	Invitations issued only to – · NOC 0621: Retail and wholesale trade managers, and · NOC 0631: Restaurant and food service managers. [Note. – This draw was conducted separately.]
February 16, 2021	459	SI and EEBC	Temporary suspension on 31 occupations lifted. Effective February 16, 2021, the BC PNP resumed issuing ITAs to the 31 occupations previously excluded from draws.
February 23, 2021	87	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw
March 2, 2021	26	SI and EEBC	Invitations issued only to – · NOC 0621: Retail and wholesale trade managers, and · NOC 0631: Restaurant and food service managers.
March 2, 2021	418	SI and EEBC	Included the 31 occupations previously excluded due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
March 9, 2021	95	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw
March 16, 2021	78	SI and EEBC	Invitations issued only to – · NOC 0621: Retail and wholesale trade managers, and · NOC 0631: Restaurant and food service managers. [Note. – This draw was conducted separately.]
March 16, 2021	428	SI and EEBC	-
March 23, 2021	95	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw
March 30, 2021	44	SI and EEBC	Invitations issued only to – · NOC 0621: Retail and wholesale trade managers, and · NOC 0631: Restaurant and food service managers. [Note. – This draw was conducted separately.]
March 30, 2021	330	SI and EEBC	-
April 6, 2021	80	SI and EEBC	Tech Pilot draw