An In-depth Look at the British Columbia Nomination Program for Canadian Immigration

If you are interested in moving to Canada to live and work in the province of British Columbia you may want to look into coming to Canada under the British Columbia Provincial Nomination program. The British Columbia Provincial Nomination program allows applicants that have obtained a guaranteed job offer from a company in the province of British Columbia or through a special business category the opportunity to move to Canada to live and work. While other provinces have similar programs, the British Columbia Provincial Nomination program is the most unique program.

Like the other provincial nomination programs, this one offers an easy route to settled status for foreign workers and a quick way to Canadian citizenship as you only need to have three years of permanent residency to qualify for citizenship in Canada.

The objective of the British Columbia Provincial Nomination program is to bring in a limited number of qualified applicants into the province under one of two streams - the strategic occupation stream or the business categories stream.

The strategic occupation stream is similar to the work permit in that it is an employer led program. This means that applicants cannot apply by themselves but must have a job offer and have the employer apply for them on their behalf. The job offer must not be able to be filled by someone in the current workforce in British Columbia. Candidates for this stream must fall into one of the following categories: skilled worker, health care professional or international graduate. While skilled workers can be from any industry, preference is given to aerospace workers in information technology. Doctors, nurses and midwives are the most sought after health care professionals. And international graduates must graduate from a recognized British Columbia school.

The business categories stream has three subcategories of the business skills category, the regional development category and the projects category.

Under the business skills category, successful candidates must meet the following requirements: a minimum net value of $2 million Canadian, a investment of $800,000 Canadian, a minimum of a third of a share in a proposed business venture, have business experience including a management role and have a business plan that will create a minimum of five new jobs in British Columbia.

Under the regional development category, successful candidates must meet the following requirements: have a business project outside the greater Vancouver area, have a minimum net value of $600,000 Canadian, make a minimum investment of $300,000 Canadian, have a 50 percent minimum equity and management role and have a business plan that will create a minimum of two new jobs in British Columbia.

Under the projects category, successful candidates must meet the following requirements: be a skilled manager or technical professional that is essential to a new project with a company that has a record in that area and a new investment worth a minimum of $1 million Canadian that will create a minimum of five new jobs in British Columbia.

If you are approved for the British Columbia Provincial Nomination program, you can bring your spouse or any dependants with you to Canada.