British Columbia has made a slew of changes to the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) designed to respond to labour market shortages in health and early childhood educator occupations.
The changes, announced on March 10, 2022, include a new list of priority occupations for the BC PNP and a new policy of targeting occupations through periodic draws.
“We’re taking steps to ensure the Provincial Nominee Program is meeting the needs of British Columbians today and into the future,” said Nathan Cullen, Minister of Municipal Affairs.
“By placing a greater focus on skilled workers in the care economy, we’re helping attract talent from around the world committed to delivering the essential services we all rely on.”
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In a further change, healthcare assistants and dental assistants have been added as eligible occupations to the province’s Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category.
The province has also announced its Heath Care Professional category will change to a Health Authority category, which is open to all health authority occupations.
Meanwhile, under the province’s Skilled Worker category, the requirement of two years of directly-related experience is replaced with two years of skilled experience.
BC PNP: New Targeted Healthcare Occupations
- 0311 Managers in healthcare
- 3011 Nursing co-ordinators and supervisors
- 3012 Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
- 3111 Specialist physicians
- 3112 General practitioners and family physicians
- 3113 Dentists
- 3122 Chiropractors
- 3124 Allied primary health practitioners
- 3125 Other professional occupations in health diagnosing and treating
- 3131 Pharmacists
- 3132 Dietitians and nutritionists
- 3141 Audiologists and speech-language pathologists
- 3142 Physiotherapists
- 3143 Occupational therapists
- 3144 Other professional occupations in therapy and assessment
- 3211 Medical laboratory technologists
- 3212 Medical laboratory technicians and pathologists’ assistants
- 3214 Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists
- 3215 Medical radiation technologists
- 3216 Medical sonographers
- 3217 Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, n.e.c.
- 3219 Other medical technologists and technicians (except dental health)
- 3221 Denturists
- 3222 Dental hygienists and dental therapists
- 3223 Dental technologists, technicians and laboratory assistants
- 3232 Practitioners of natural healing
- 3233 Licensed practical nurses
- 3234 Paramedical occupations
- 3237 Other technical occupations in therapy and assessment
- 3411 Dental assistants
- 3413 Only health care assistants or health care aides
- 4151 Psychologists
- 4152 Social workers
- 4153 Family, marriage and other related counsellors
- 4212 Social and community service workers
BC PNP: New Targeted Childcare Occupations
- 4214 Early Childhood Educators