Where this stands
A one off intake, capped at 250 nominations
Registration opened on 15 June 2026 and was originally due to close on 31 August 2026. The province extended it to 7 October 2026 to account for wildfire disruption. The cap of 250 nominations is a hard limit, not a target.
The first draw, on 23 July 2026, invited 60 candidates at a minimum score of 50. Every other category in the programme has recently required between 68 and 132.
Two things make this worth acting on rather than reading about. It reaches occupations the rest of Canadian economic immigration excludes, and it is the only route in the province where a modest score has recently been enough.
These occupations have no other route. All three federal Express Entry programmes count only TEER 0 to 3 work, the federal caregiver pilots are paused, and British Columbia closed its own entry level stream in 2024. For a cleaner or a security guard at a rural hospital, this is the door, and it closes in October.
The conditions
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Occupations | Light duty cleaners, NOC 65310. Janitors, caretakers and heavy duty cleaners, NOC 65312. Security guards and related security service occupations, NOC 64410. No other occupation qualifies |
| Employer | A British Columbia health authority |
| Experience | Nine months of full time experience in an eligible occupation with a health authority, before you register |
| Where | Outside Metro Vancouver, the Capital Regional District and the Central Okanagan. Galiano, Mayne, Pender, Salt Spring and Saturna Islands are included despite sitting inside the Capital Regional District |
| Cap | Up to 250 nominations in total |
| Registration window | 15 June 2026 to 7 October 2026 at 23:59 |
| First draw | 23 July 2026, 60 invitations at a minimum score of 50 |
Scoring uses the same 200 point registration grid as the rest of the programme, so the estimator on the British Columbia overview page applies here too.
The Gulf Islands carve out matters. Salt Spring, Galiano, Mayne, Pender and Saturna sit inside the Capital Regional District, which is otherwise excluded, and are included anyway. Anyone working for Island Health on those islands should not assume they are ruled out by the regional exclusion.
Requirements checker
A structured way to see where you stand against the published criteria. It returns an indication only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited.
Your situation
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