British Columbia’s Strategic Occupations Provincial Nominee Program is designed to help BC employers to bring in the foreign talent that they need. The employer must establish that there is a shortage of people in BC with the immigrant’s skills, that it is paying market wages for the position, and that hiring the immigrant will yield significant economic benefit to BC.

The program is employer driven, rather than immigrant driven. As such, the focus of the assessment is usually on the employer, and why it needs to bring in the particular foreign worker.

Skilled workers who have a guaranteed job offer from a BC company may be able to qualify for the Strategic Occupations program. This program has 3 categories: Skilled workers; Health care professionals; and International Students.

Although there are no hard and fast rules as to what kind of job may qualify for the Skilled Worker category, the BC PNP has identified several priority sectors where there are shortages:

• High Technology, including Information Technology and Aerospace;
• Post Secondary Educational institutions, such as Universities and other schools;
• Skilled Trades, including electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, and some machinists;
• Small and Medium sized employers requiring specialized skills, or multiple skills;
• Employers outside Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria that have difficulty in recruiting skilled workers.

At Lowe & Company, we have used this to bring in Patent Engineers, Manufacturing executives, Dentists, Nutraceutical salespeople, Biotech Engineers, and other highly skilled workers.

The British Columbia Government’s Provincial Nominee Program has 2 general categories: Strategic Occupations, to fill critical labour shortages, and Business programs, for immigrants who will be starting up businesses in B.C., or helping BC businesses to expand.

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