British Columbia Express Entry International Graduate Immigration

The Express Entry International Graduate category of the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) provides a way for candidates in the federal Express Entry pool who graduated from a university or college in Canada, and who also have a job offer in BC, to obtain permanent resident status in Canada.

Successful applicants to the EE International Graduate category obtain a BC PNP provincial nomination certificate. When this is uploaded to the Express Entry profile, 600 additional Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points are awarded, followed by an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence at a subsequent draw from the pool.

EE International Graduate criteria

To qualify for this category, candidates must:

• be eligible for one of the federal economic immigration programs (Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class, or Canadian Experience Class) and create an Express Entry profile;
• have accepted a full-time, permanent job offer in a skilled position (National Occupational Classification 0, A or B) from an employer in BC;
• qualify to work in the job offered;
• have a wage offer in line with BC wage rates for the occupation;
• have completed a degree, diploma, or certificate from an eligible post-secondary institution in Canada in the past three years;
• show they can support themselves and their dependents;
• have, or be eligible for, legal immigration status in Canada; and
• meet minimum language requirements according to the federal immigration program requirements.

Note: your study program in Canada does not necessarily need to have been based in BC. If you studied in another province, you may still be eligible for the EE International Graduate category of the BC PNP.

Employer requirements

There are certain requirements for the employer as well. The employer must:

• be established as an employer in good standing in BC;
• provide full-time, indeterminate (permanent or with no set end date) employment;
• have a history of good workplace and business practices;
• sign an employer declaration;
• meet domestic labour market recruitment requirements, where applicable; and
• offer a wage in line with industry standards.

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The BC Skills Immigration Registration System

Applications to the EE International Graduate category of the BC PNP are managed under the Skills Immigration Registration System, or SIRS. Under this system, eligible candidates must first register a profile under the SIRS, a unique system used by the BC PNP to rank and select candidates who have the ability to settle permanently in the province.

Upon registration, candidates are assigned a score based on a combination of factors, including the details of the job offer, as well as human capital factors relating to work experience, language ability, and level of education.

The system operates on an Expression of Interest / Invitation to Apply basis, whereby the BC PNP conducts periodic draws and invites the highest-ranked candidates to apply for provincial nomination. Though the cut-off threshold may fluctuate from draw to draw, EE International Graduate candidates are guaranteed an invitation if they have at least 105 points (out of a possible 200). Actual cut-off thresholds have gone significantly below that threshold, however, so there is a chance of being invited to apply with fewer than 105 points.

That being said, it is worth looking at a hypothetical profile of somebody who does reach the guaranteed invitation threshold. Maria completed a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), after which she obtained a post-graduation work permit in Canada and obtained a job in the industry. She then received a permanent job offer in the Vancouver area, and in the same field, with an annual salary of $44,000. With her high intermediate English ability, Maria’s 105 points under the SIRS guarantees that she be invited to apply to the BC PNP.

You may ask, wouldn’t Maria have been invited under the federal Express Entry system anyway, without having to obtain additional points such as by obtaining a provincial nomination? Not necessarily. While Maria would be rewarded under the CRS for her young age (27) and education in Canada, her language ability of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 8, combined with the fact that her job offer in BC is not supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and that her work permit is open, means that she gets limited points for language ability and no points for a job offer under the CRS. However, she would get points for the job offer under the SIRS, as the employer is not required to obtain a LMIA under that system. Overall, her initial CRS score would be 418. If she applies to the BC PNP, however, this would increase to 1,018, meaning that she would be well on the way to permanent residence in Canada.

There are many other ways to gain points under the SIRS and settle in BC, and Canada, permanently. To view the SIRS scoring system in full detail, visit our dedicated SIRS page.

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