Significant adjustments are coming to the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program for international students
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs will be updating the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) in January 2025 to create clearer pathways and better outcomes for international workers coming to B.C. A detailed summary of the updates will be available in late 2024, and the criteria will be published in the BC PNP Skills Immigration Program Guide in January 2025.
What is being updated?
Graduate streams
The current International Graduate and International Post-Graduate streams will be replaced with three new streams:
- The Bachelor’s stream will be for recent graduates with bachelor’s degrees from eligible post-secondary institutions. Graduates with an indeterminate full-time job offer can register for this stream
- The Master’s stream will be for recent graduates with master’s degrees from eligible post-secondary institutions, in any field of study. Graduates with a minimum one-year full-time job offer in a skilled occupation can register for this stream
- The Doctorate stream will be for graduates and candidates of doctoral level programs from eligible post-secondary institutions. Graduates and PhD candidates can apply directly to this stream
Students who complete diploma or certificate programs in Canada (who will not be eligible for these new graduate streams) can still qualify for other BC PNP streams.
Language requirements
The minimum language proficiency level will be increased program-wide, except for the Health Authority stream which has already been adjusted.
A minimum of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 8 is currently planned for the new graduate streams.
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Major changes to Canada’s PGWP work visa policy will take effect on November 1, 2024
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