Major Changes to British Columbia’s PNP Announced

British Columbia has introduced major changes to its Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) for 2025. The province will accept only 1,100 new applications, prioritizing front-line healthcare workers, entrepreneurs, and high-impact skilled workers.

General and priority occupation draws are paused, with only about 100 candidates expected to be nominated from the current pool of over 10,000. The International Post-Graduate stream will not process applications submitted between September 1, 2024, and January 7, 2025—those will be waitlisted.

New student streams have been delayed until B.C.'s federal nomination levels increase. Other changes include:

• The Health Authority stream is now limited to front-line healthcare roles.
• Early Childhood Educator Assistants are no longer included in education-targeted draws.

B.C. started 2025 with 5,200 applications but received only 4,000 nominations. The province plans to allocate 2,900 of those to applications already in progress.

These adjustments follow a federal decision to reduce PNP allocations nationwide by 50%, from 110,000 to 55,000 for 2025.