British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP): A Mid-2026 Review of ITAs, Draws, and BC PNP Priorities

BC PNP’s New Framework: Care, Build, and Innovate

The British Columbia PNP includes two main immigration pathways: Skills Immigration and Entrepreneur Immigration. The April 2026 overhaul reorganized the BC PNP around three objectives: Care, Build, and Innovate.

• Care targets workers in health care, childcare, and veterinary services, as well as French-speaking teachers in BC’s public K-12 school system. The program has identified 36 in-demand occupations under this priority.
• Build focuses on workers in nine designated skilled trades occupations, who hold a valid trade certificate issued by SkilledTradesBC.
• Innovate covers candidates, including tech workers, who create high economic impact in BC.

The Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (ELSS) stream was permanently closed as part of the overhaul. Plans to launch new student-specific streams for international graduates were also cancelled.

BC PNP ITAs Issued Between January and June 2026

British Columbia has a PNP nomination allocation of 5,254 in 2026. The province does not disclose how nominations are split between the different BC PNP pathways.

That said, a deeper look into the number of nominations issued so far suggests that BC has issued ITAs equalling around 54 percent of its nomination room. Not all ITAs will lead to a nomination. Moreover, some ITAs issued in the previous year may result in a nomination this year.

Skills Immigration ITAs

In BC, some PNP nominations under the Skills Immigration stream are issued through Express Entry, while others are issued directly by the province. However, the province does not specify the distribution of EE versus non-EE nominations.

While BC has not released the number of nominations it has used, here’s a breakdown of the Skills Immigration invitations to apply issued between January and June 2026:

• High Economic Impact: 2,089 ITAs issued
• Build: Construction Trades: 249 ITAs issued
• Care: Veterinary Care: 15 ITAs issued
• Care: Childcare: 177 ITAs issued
• Care: Health: 234 ITAs issued

Overall, 2,764 ITAs have been issued under the Skills Immigration pathway in the first half of 2026.

Entrepreneur Stream ITAs

In the first half of 2026, BC conducted seven rounds of invitation under the Entrepreneur stream. 78 invitations were issued under the base stream, which is for entrepreneurs looking to start or buy high-value businesses anywhere in BC. Fewer than 25 invitations were issued under the regional stream, which allows entrepreneurs to make smaller business investments in certain participating rural communities.

Other BC PNP Updates in 2026

Effective January 22, 2026, BC increased the Skills Immigration application fee from $1,475 to $1,750.

As part of the Care priority, BC announced a one-time initiative targeting rural health care workers in cleaning, caretaking, and security roles. Registration for this pathway opened on June 15, 2026, and will close on August 31, 2026.

What to Watch in the Second Half of 2026

With roughly half of BC’s 2026 nomination room still estimated to be available, draw activity is likely to continue across the Care, Build, and Innovate categories through the rest of the year.

If your occupation falls under the 36 Care occupations or nine Build trades, keep an eye out for targeted draws in the second half of 2026. If it does not, the High Economic Impact pathway under Innovate may still be an option, particularly if you are a high earner in a skilled role. That pathway has consistently run the highest volume of draws so far this year.