STUDY | WORK | IMMIGRATION  

BC Tech Pilot here to stay


One of the popular streams for Immigration to British Columbia, the BC Tech Pilot stream has now been converted into a permanent stream. It will be known as the BC PNP Tech stream under the BC Provincial Nominee Programs.

The stream offers a Permanent Residence pathway to applicants under 29 Tech occupations. The Province says that this is being done to attract and use skills of trained IT professionals for the growth and prosperity of the province. The stream was launched in May 2017 and has since then seen the entry of over 6000 professionals covered under the 29 Tech occupations become Permanent Residents.

The Province wants to ensure that the their Tech sector keeps growing by attracting tech talent from around the world and also to keep international students. The Stream allows Eligible Employers in BC to offer jobs to tech professionals in the province and outside the country, without having to go through the LMIA process. The job offered should be full time, in one of the 29 Tech occupations and for at least a 1-year duration. When the applicant applies for permanent residence, there should be at least 120 days remaining in the term of the offer.

Weekly invitations are issued for applicants in the Tech Pilot pool of the Province, to reduce waiting time for Employers. These applications are also rendered priority processing amongst all other nomination streams of BC.

Needless to mention, this is an employer driven stream to meet demands of the Tech Industry Employers. Both the Employer and the Employee need to be registered and must meet all the requirements of the program. Once the employee is issued an invitation to apply for permanent residence, they are also issued a support letter, to either extend their work permit or apply for a work permit. This is to facilitate employees to keep working during the processing of their PR application.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *