What British Columbia asks of you
The largest provincial program in the country, and it puts the burden on the employer expressly. The onus is on your employer to demonstrate the employer requirements are met, and the worker cannot register without your support in hand first. You are not obliged to support an application. If you do, you sign a declaration and carry it to the decision.
- Established, with a physical presence. An ongoing fixed place of business in British Columbia, such as an office, where employees can physically report to work on a regular basis.
- A business structure the province recognises. Incorporated or extra provincially registered in British Columbia, or a partnership registered there. Health authorities, public institutions, government bodies, first nation governments and registered non profits also qualify.
- One year operating, and a minimum headcount. At least one year in the province. Five indeterminate full time employees or equivalents working from within British Columbia in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, three outside it. Full time is an average of thirty hours a week, two part timers can make one equivalent, and contractors do not count at all.
- Legally able to operate. A municipal business licence, approval from the regulator in a regulated industry, and for an early childhood educator role a health authority child care licence.
- A clean compliance record, and a declaration signed by someone who can sign it. Refusal may follow where you or a director or owner has been fined by a regulator within two years, or within five for immigration related non compliance. Every section of the Employer Declaration Form must be completed, vague answers are treated as incomplete, and it must be signed by an employee or owner with the organisation's authority and consent.
- A safety rating, if you run vehicles. Certification under the province's National Safety Code program, rated excellent, satisfactory or satisfactory unaudited, with the carrier name matching your legal name.
- Some employers cannot support an application at all. Placement and employment agencies, staffing firms and professional employer organisations. Organisations providing immigration advice or services, added in June 2026. Sexually oriented businesses, and anything the province considers would bring the program into disrepute. And any employer the candidate or their family controls at ten per cent or more.
Being ineligible is not always obvious from the outside. The province can prohibit an employer from supporting an application, and can cancel a nomination later if it finds the employer was ineligible at the time. It may contact you or conduct a site visit, and it may refuse applications supported by an employer that misrepresents for up to two years.
From the BC PNP Skills Immigration Program Guide, stated effective 10 June 2026, and the province's employer page, stamped last updated 10 February 2026. Verified 21 August 2026 against welcomebc.ca.
The job offer, and how the province sets the wage
Three things decide most offers, being the hours, the duration and the wage. The wage rule is the one people get wrong, because it is comparative rather than absolute.
- One regular full time position. At least an average of thirty hours a week, year round. Contractor and subcontractor positions will not be approved, nor a position worked mostly outside the province.
- Indeterminate, with a narrow exception. No defined end date. Appendix A lists occupations, largely academic and technology, that may use a limited term offer running at least one year, being 365 days, with at least 120 calendar days remaining at application. Those figures are the guide's own words.
- Within the published wage range for the occupation and location. Taken from WorkBC or the federal Job Bank. That is how the province sets the comparable wage, and it is location specific, so the same job pays differently in different parts of the province.
- Comparable to what you pay Canadians and permanent residents. For similar education, training and experience, and consistent with your own compensation structure. The published range is a floor and your payroll is a second test.
- Base pay only, and a family income floor on top. Bonuses, commissions, profit sharing, tips, overtime, housing and board are not part of the wage. A minimum family income applies by area and family size, and a wage inflated to reach it is a ground for refusal.
- Genuine need, in the existing business. The position must be needed to maintain or grow your existing line of business. New lines, and work normally done by outside contractors, may not be supported.
- Twelve occupations are barred outright. For applications after 13 June 2026, including executive assistants, administrative officers and assistants, bookkeepers, human resources officers, retail and food service supervisors and real estate agents.
The recruitment requirement
Framed as a duty not to harm opportunities for people already here. You must make genuine and bona fide efforts to recruit locally, and you describe those efforts on the declaration form even where the worker already works for you.
- Two locations, fourteen days. At a minimum, advertisements posted in at least two acceptable locations for at least fourteen days, being recognised job posting websites, professional association websites, or national newspapers, journals or newsletters.
- What the advertisement must say, and must not. Operating name, job title and duties, the offered wage or range, location, contact details and the skills requirements. Not preferences unsupported by the occupation, not a language other than English or French unless directly related to the duties, and not anything catered to one candidate. That last is the trap, because a description drafted from the successful candidate's resume reads exactly like it.
- Two ways it can be treated as met, at the province's discretion. A senior executive or highly specialised senior role, where you show targeted recruitment consistent with industry practice. Or a candidate holding a valid work permit and already working full time for you in the occupation offered, a student counting only once graduated.
- Third party recruiters must be licensed. And that recruiter, or anyone at the firm, cannot also act as immigration representative for you or the worker.
Failing to show genuine recruitment, or an adequate level of scrutiny in verifying candidates, may result in refusal. Keep the postings, the dates and the screening record.
Why your prospects depend on the occupation
British Columbia runs targeted draws only, so eligibility and invitation have come apart
There are no general draws. The province invites from its registration pool by category, being Care, Build and Innovate, and publishes the minimum score after each round rather than before it. You can meet every employer requirement, pay well and hold a genuine vacancy, and your candidate can still have no route, because no draw covers the occupation. Care covers priority health care occupations, certified early childhood educators, French language education in public schools and veterinary occupations. Build covers certified construction trades. Innovate is open to any skilled occupation on a score route or a wage route.
The Innovate wage route in the round of 20 August 2026 required a minimum wage of $55 an hour and $110,000 a year with an offer at NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3, and issued 337 invitations. The score route in the same round invited 265 at 132 points. Those thresholds are set fresh each round and have moved in both directions this year, having been $58 an hour and $115,000 on 16 July and $62 an hour and $125,000 on 18 June, so they are not a trend to plan against.
So the first question is not whether the file is strong. It is which category the occupation falls in, and whether the province is drawing from it. A public health authority offer is the genuine exception, because that stream does not go through the pool at all.
The occupation lists, the pool distribution and the full score grid are on the worker side of this program, which is the page your candidate will have read.
Where these files actually fail
Less on eligibility than on employer paperwork, and on one structural question that has nothing to do with paperwork.
- The occupation is not in a category being drawn from. The commonest reason a good file goes nowhere, and no documentation fixes it.
- The declaration form answered thinly. Answers reading not applicable or employee on valid work permit are treated as incomplete and the application may be refused.
- Headcount counted the wrong way. Only payroll counts. Contractors do not, and neither do employees working from outside the province.
- A wage propped up to clear a threshold. Refusal follows where the province believes a wage was inflated to meet the minimum income.
- A change in the job that nobody reported. Notify the province within thirty days of demotions, terminations, layoffs, extended leaves, delayed start dates or closure.
Fees, and who pays each
| Fee | Amount | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | No fee | Not applicable |
| Application | $1,750 CAD | The applicant |
| Request for review | $500 CAD | The applicant |
| Federal labour market impact assessment | Not required for this program | Not applicable |
| Federal employer compliance fee | $230 CAD, through the federal Employer Portal, where the worker needs a work permit | You, and it cannot be recovered from the worker |
Two prohibitions sit on top of that table. The province states that an employer cannot deduct from a worker's pay or require them to pay any fee for recruitment or retention, or any fee normally paid by the employer. The federal Regulations say the same about the compliance fee and recruitment fees, at sections 209.2 and 209.11, with the fee fixed at $230 by section 303.1 and remitted by subsection 303.1(6) where the permit is refused, or where you withdraw the offer and request a remission before the permit issues. You do not need a labour market impact assessment here, which the province states expressly. See also employer compliance.
Status and currency
Open, and narrower than it was. The program is running and taking registrations continuously. What changed in April 2026 is who gets invited.
- The guide states that it is effective 10 June 2026. Its own page footers are mixed, several still reading 28 May 2026, so we cite the effective date on the front matter and note that the footers lag. The employer page carries 10 February 2026.
- Draw results are published after each round. The most recent is 20 August 2026. Minimum scores and Innovate wage thresholds are set per round and we could not source either in advance. British Columbia asked for 9,000 nominations for 2026 and was given 6,254, including a further 1,000 announced on 18 August 2026, and a reduced allocation is why the architecture changed.
- Thirty days from an invitation, and your documents are inside it. Thirty calendar days to file a complete application with the fee. In practice you have fewer, because the candidate cannot file without you.
The federal half of the same hire, where the obligations you can actually breach live.