The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) Express Entry International Post-Graduate category allows graduates with a Master's or doctorate (PhD) degree in the natural, applied or health sciences who have completed a valid graduate program of study at an eligible post-secondary institution in BC in the last three years to settle in BC permanently.
Changes Coming To This Stream in 2025
The BC PNP International Graduate and International Post-Graduate streams will change in 2025. The BC Provincial Government announced that it plans to replace these two streams with three new streams:
- A Bachelor’s stream: for recent graduates of eligible institutions with bachelor’s degrees who have an indeterminate full-time job offer.
- The Master’s stream: for recent graduates of eligible institutions with a minimum of one-year full-time job offer in a skilled occupation.
- The Doctorate stream: Graduates and PhD candidates can apply directly to this stream. The government did not outline whether there would be a job offer requirement for this stream.
BC’s language level requirement will be updated so that applicants need to meet CLB 8 or higher for these streams. At the moment, applicants only need to meet minimum language requirements according to the federal immigration program requirements, so this could be a minimum of CLB 5. In other words, the language requirement for student graduates applying for these streams may be higher.
Those who complete certificate or diploma programs in Canada may be eligible for other BC PNP streams.
This category is aligned with the federal Express Entry selection system. Successful applicants to the EE International Post-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.
Applicants to this category must have graduated in the last three years with a Master’s or doctorate (PhD) degree in one of the following natural, applied or health sciences:
- agriculture
- biological and biomedical sciences
- computer and information sciences and support services
- engineering
- engineering technology
- health professions and related clinical sciences
- mathematics and statistics
- natural resources conservation and research
- physical sciences
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A complete list of eligible study programs is available here.
The Express Entry International Post-Graduate category is the only Express Entry-aligned BC PNP category that does not require applicants to have a job offer from an employer in BC in order to be eligible. In addition, applicants do not need to be invited to apply before submitting an application – International Post-Graduate applicants may apply directly online.
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