British Columbia has continued the recent trend of issuing a majority of Invitations to Apply to international graduates under its Provincial Nominee Program.
The most recent round of ITAs on December 21, 2016, saw 162 out of 276 invites go the way of former international students.
The trend is in line with federal government policy, with Immigration Minister John McCallum regarding international graduates as blue chip new permanent residents for Canada.
Of the remaining ITAS issued on December 21, 72 of them went to skilled workers and 29 to entry level and semi-skilled workers.
There were also 13 ITAs issued to candidates under the province’s entrepreneur immigration stream.
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Invitations Issued December 21
Category | Minimum Score | Number of Invitations |
Express Entry Skilled Worker | 100 | 39 |
Express Entry International Graduate | 80 | 68 |
Skills Immigration: Skilled Worker | 100 | 33 |
Skills Immigration: International Graduate | 80 | 94 |
Skills Immigration: Entry Level and Semi-Skilled | 65 | 29 |
Entrepreneur Immigration | 140 | 13 |
Source: www.welcomebc.ca
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McCallum recently set immigration levels for 2017, with an upper limit of 320,000. Some 51,000 places have been set aside for provincial programs, versus 47,800 in 2016.
B.C.’s 2016 plan was to accept a majority of candidates from the Skilled Worker stream (35 to 45 per cent). A sizeable proportion of immigrants were expected to come through Express Entry (25 per cent), while between 15 and 20 per cent were expected to be International Graduates.
The province’s government planned to make immigrants in the Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category between 10 and 15 per cent of its intake, with the Entrepreneur stream taking between 2 and 5 per cent.
The province issues minimum scores that will guarantee a candidate an invite in the next round of invitations. However, the published scores are subject to change.
B.C. PNP: Scores Needed for Guaranteed Invitation
Category | Guaranteed Registration Score |
Skills Immigration – Skilled Worker | 135 |
Skills Immigration – International Graduate | 105 |
Skills Immigration – Entry Level and Semi-Skilled | 95 |
Express Entry BC – Skilled Worker | 135 |
Express Entry BC – International Graduate | 105 |
Source: www.welcomebc.ca
B.C. Premier Christy Clark has led calls for the federal government to increase PNP caps, saying the current limits acted as a constraint to the growth of Western Canada.
The provincial premiers also released a joint statement in July, asking for the same immigration powers as Quebec.
“Canada’s Premiers call on the federal government to establish an equivalent agreement to the Canada-Quebec Accord with all provinces and territories,” read a statement from the Council of the Federation talks in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Quebec sets its own immigration quotas, currently at 50,000, but set to increase in the coming years.