BC PNP ISSUES INVITATIONS ACROSS FIVE PRIORITY CATEGORIES UNDER CARE AND BUILD
On August 6, 2026, British Columbia held new invitation rounds under the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP), targeting five priority occupation categories across the province's care and construction sectors. Here's a full breakdown of the round, plus what you need to know about how the BC PNP works if you're considering this pathway to Canadian permanent residence.
What Is the BC PNP?
The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) is B.C.'s dedicated economic immigration program, run jointly with the federal government through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Rather than competing in a single, general pool, the BC PNP lets the province nominate workers and entrepreneurs who directly match its labour market needs. A provincial nomination is a significant advantage: candidates nominated through an Express Entry-aligned stream receive an additional 600 points on their federal Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, which effectively guarantees an invitation to apply for permanent residence in the next federal Express Entry round.
Since April 2026, the BC PNP has organized its worker-selection priorities around three pillars — Care, Build, and Innovate — as part of the province's broader economic immigration strategy. This round's invitations fell entirely under the Care and Build pillars.
| Category | Selection Factor | Minimum Score | Invitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Care: Childcare | Early childhood educators only | 102 | 183 |
| Care: Health | All priority health care occupations | 84 | 124 |
| Care: Education | All priority education occupations | 68 | Fewer than 5 |
| Care: Veterinary Care | All priority veterinary care occupations* | 72 | 6 |
| Build: Construction Trades | All priority construction occupations | 88 | 187 |
*Animal health technologists and veterinary technicians (NOC 32104) were required to hold a valid professional designation to qualify under the veterinary care category.
What Each Category Covers
Care: Childcare — targets certified early childhood educators, a persistent priority occupation for the province given ongoing childcare capacity shortages.
Care: Health — covers a broad range of priority health care occupations, delivered through the BC PNP's Health Authority route for candidates with a job offer from a public health authority, as well as select roles in the wider health sector.
Care: Education — covers priority education occupations, including French-speaking teachers working in B.C.'s public K-12 system, an area the province has specifically flagged as a recruitment priority.
Care: Veterinary Care — open to all priority veterinary care occupations, with animal health technologists and veterinary technicians required to hold a valid professional designation to qualify.
Build: Construction Trades — targets certified trade workers and skilled workers contributing to construction and infrastructure projects of strategic importance to B.C., reflecting the province's continued push to address housing and infrastructure labour shortages.
Do You Need a Job Offer?
For most BC PNP Skills Immigration routes — including the Skilled Worker and Health Authority routes that these Care and Build invitations draw from — yes: you generally need a full-time, indeterminate (permanent) job offer from a B.C. employer in an eligible occupation before you can register. The main exception across the program is the International Post-Graduate category, which does not require a job offer. If you're exploring one of the categories in this round, confirming you have a qualifying job offer in hand is typically the first eligibility question to answer.
What Stands Out
Construction trades and childcare drew the largest invitation volumes this round, with 187 and 183 candidates invited respectively — both categories BC has consistently prioritized throughout 2026 as the province works to address labour shortages in housing-related construction and early childhood education. The health care category followed closely with 124 invitations.
The education and veterinary care categories remain far more limited in scale, with fewer than five and six invitations respectively, reflecting smaller candidate pools in these specific priority areas rather than lower demand for the roles themselves.
Program Context
So far in 2026, British Columbia has invited up to 4,359 candidates through the BCPNP. The program's Skills Immigration registration pool currently holds thousands of active registrations, with the largest concentration of candidates sitting in the 90–109 point score range — useful context for anyone gauging where their own score stands relative to the pool.
Is Your Occupation on BC's Priority List?
Do you work in construction, childcare, health care, education, or veterinary care, and are you considering British Columbia? With BC continuing to run targeted invitation rounds for these specific priority occupations, knowing exactly where your score and occupation stand can make all the difference.
At Global Opportunities, we help you assess your BCPNP eligibility, confirm whether your job offer qualifies, and register a strong Skills Immigration profile. Contact us today to find out where you stand.