EEBC – Skilled Workers

About the program

British Columbia has a high demand for skilled labor to support its rapidly thriving economy so the Express Entry British Columbia (EEBC) for skilled workers was designed as a faster way for foreign skilled workers to contribute and become a permanent residence. The program is a point-based and connects to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Express Entry system to speed up the permanent residence process. In 2018, the program has given out nominations to approximately 2,000 candidates.

You can submit your application online but your application will not be granted if you are currently residing or working in Canada illegally.

Eligibility

Technically, the program is a point-based selection so they will invite people with the highest scores in the selection pool. The more proof you have to strengthen your application, the better your chance is. The current invitation pass mark of EEBC – Skilled Worker is 135 points. Here are the minimum requirements for this pathway, you can do a self-assessment and figure out which one you can earn a high point. 

1. Received an Express Entry Profile Number and a Job Seeker Validation Code

This requirement means that before you can be eligible for the EEBC, you must pass one in three federal economic immigration program through Express Entry. These programs are listed below and you can click on the link to check its criteria in details:

• Federal Skilled Worker Program:

The IRCC will assess based on skilled work experience, language ability, education, and other selection factors. You will earn points for each category in the selection factors point-grid. If you earn 67 points then you are good to go at the present pass mark.

• Federal Skilled Trades Program

Quite similar to the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program also demands you to show that you meet the standard in work experience, language levels but no education. However, the criteria won’t be as same as the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the IRCC suggests that you can still provide proof of education level to enhance your rank in the Express Entry pool. You must also need to have a job offer to be eligible for the program.

• Canadian Experience Class

The program requires you to meet its language level and work experience.

After the self-assessment in accordance with these program requirements, if you are eligible then create a profile and indicate that you are interested in settling in B.C.

2. Be economically independent to support yourself and your dependents

The BC PNP has a minimum family income threshold for different family sizes in all the areas of British Columbia. Your family income will be counted toward regular gross annual wages and other incomes for example bonuses, commissions, tips, overtime wages, profit-sharing distribution will not be considered. The wage must also from the B.C employer who supports your BC PNP application. Your spouse or partner’s salary can be combined in but they must have a valid work permit or valid employment authorization.

The following are the family income threshold, the Greater Vancouver and the rest of B.C will be different minimum income thresholds.

• Greater Vancouver Regional District:
  • 1 person: $22,804 CAD
  • 2 persons: $28,390 CAD
  • 3 persons: $34,902 CAD
  • 4 persons: $42,376 CAD
  • 5 persons: $48,062 CAD
  • 6 persons: $54,205 CAD
  • 7 persons or more: $60,350 CAD
• Rest of B.C:
  • 1 person: $19,006 CAD
  • 2 persons: $23,659 CAD
  • 3 persons: $29,087 CAD
  • 4 persons: $35,316  CAD
  • 5 persons: $40,054 CAD
  • 6 persons: $45,175 CAD
  • 7 persons or more: $50,296 CAD

The currency is the Canadian Dollar (CAD)

Besides the requirement of the BC PNP program, you must also check the IRCC because settlement funds differ across the federal economic immigration programs.

3. Meet the minimum language requirements:

The requirements will be according to one of the federal economic programs. Your test result must from a designated agency by the IRCC and be valid for 2 years from the date of issuance at the time you apply.

For English: The IELTS General Training and the CELPIP-General

For French: the TEF  

4. Have a full-time job offer from a B.C employer

The offer must be for indeterminate, full-time employment and from an eligible B.C. employer at a wage that meets industry standards to work inside British Columbia.

The offer letter from your employer must have the company official letterhead on it and is signed by the one who is authorized to hire in the company. Your signature and the dated that you confirm to accept the offer must be in the letter too.

The content inside must have:

• Job title and duties
• Rate of pay
• Standard hours of work
• Confirmation of the position is indeterminate* and full-time (at least an average of 30 hours a week, year-round)
• Discretionary benefits in addition to those required by law (such as pension and medical
• plans, disability insurance, sick pay, accommodation, and meal allowances, and extra paid
• vacations)
• If the position is covered by a collective agreement or a reference to the agreement

These content in the offer will help you to prove your gross annual wage and protect your rights since the program prohibits your employer from deducting your pay (or require you to pay any fees) for recruitment or retention, or any fee that is normally paid by the employer. The salary also needs to meet the industry standards and comparable to the other workers with a similar level of skills in the same occupation.

The BC PNP will not consider bonuses, commissions, profit-sharing distributions, tips/gratuities, overtime wages, housing allowances, room, and board, or other similar payments to be part of your wage. 

In case you claimed a positive  Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), the wage you are earning at the time of registration and/or application must be equal to or greater than the wage stated in the offer of employment and on the LMIA.

If you contribute to your employer as an independent contractor instead of an employee in the company then you won’t be able to join in the Skills Immigration stream of the BC PNP.

For your employer, there will be standards from the BC PNP which your employer must meet in order to support and eligible to offer you the employment.

Throughout the application process and 5 years in advance from the day you submit your application, the B.C company offers you the employment must have less than 10 percent of ownership/equity stake owned by your and/or your spouse.

Your employment must provide benefits to B.C. For instance:

• Maintaining or creating jobs for Canadians
• Transferring knowledge and skills to Canadians
• Supporting the development of proprietary new products
• Building the workforce for a major project

5. Have at least 2 years of work experience

This Express Entry pathway only considers job offer for employment classified as Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A or B in the National Occupational Classification (NOC). 

• Skill Type 0: Managerial jobs
• Skill Level A: Professional jobs
• Skill Level B: technical jobs and skilled trades

Your work experience must be directly related to the offer and from your past paid employment for an occupation classified under the same NOC code. 

If you have experience in paid co-op work then it would be eligible if meets the criteria: the paid co-op work term is full-time (minimum 30 hours per week) and the paid co-op experience is at a NOC skill level equal to or greater than the NOC code of the B.C. job offer. 

You can check the National Occupational Classification (NOC) website to check your previous work experience has the duties in align with the lead statement of the job description.

6. Qualify to do your job

The BC PNP will base on the NOC, Work BC or the industry standard to review the minimum qualifications and certificates for an occupation.

7. Be eligible to immigrate to Canada

The BC PNP program, in general, will not nominate someone who is inadmissible to migrate to Canada. Note-worthy, the federal economic immigration program will refuse your application too if you are in one of these categories:

• Prohibited from entering Canada
• In Canada and out of status: an individual whose status has expired, and who has not applied for restoration of status within the 90-day eligibility period, will be considered out of status
• Currently working in Canada without authorization
• Has an unresolved refugee claim in Canada
• Under a removal order in or outside of Canada

The point table of the BC PNP

Not only need to meet the standard of your selected program, but you also need to earn the highest points in your ability to enhance your application amongst many candidates. 

The maximum point is 200 and they are separated into two major groups: the economic factors (the maximum point is 120) and the human capital factors (the maximum point is 80)

The economic factors include the skill level of the B.C. job offer, the wage in the B.C. job offer and the regional district of employment.

Human capital factors are the experience, level of education and language efficiency that prove the individual’s ability to contribute to B.C’s economy. These factors support successful settlement and integration in the province.

This link will show you the point table in detail.

How to apply

The process has 6 stages according to the BC PNP. Here is what you need to pay attention to throughout the process

Stage 1: Registration

After self-assessment and feel confident that you and your employer are both meet the requirements, you can submit a registration to the BC PNP. Access the BC PNP online to create an online profile and complete all of the sections of the registration. You are responsible for updating your contact information in your profile and ensuring that all required information is current and up-to-date. After you complete your registration, you will receive your registration score and will be entered into a selection pool for the category in which you have registered for a maximum of 12 months since submitted. A confirmation will be sent to your email with the BC PNP registration number. A candidate can only have one active BC PNP registration and/or application at a time. If you do not receive this email, check the junk/spam folder. In case you are still couldn’t find it, log in to your profile, you will have the option of receiving another confirmation link to your email.

If you want to change the information that you have entered in your registration outside of the information captured in your profile, you will need to withdraw your registration and submit a new registration with the updated information by using your existing profile.

As a requirement, you would need to have an Express Entry Profile Number and a Job Seeker Validation Code from the IRCC for one of those three federal economic immigration programs. After choosing a suitable program for yourself, you need to create a profile on the Express Entry System and enter all the information. Once you meet the criteria, an Express Entry Profile Number and a Job Seeker Validation Code will be specifically assigned only to you.

When the IRCC invites you to apply before the BC PNP, make sure to decline it to receive a nomination from the BC PNP. If you do not decline the invitation from IRCC in Express Entry, your BC PNP application will be closed, and a refund will not be provided.

No fee is required to pay for the registration until you are invited to the next step: invitation.

Stage 2: Invitation

The number of invitations will up to the program’s allocation and the processing capacity of the BC PNP. After invited, you have 30 days from the invitation date to submit a complete application via the BC PNP online system. The incomplete application won’t be processed. If you can not submit it only time, your invitation will be canceled. However, your profile will remain so you need to submit another registration. Your previous one has been removed at the time of invitation. 

When you are invited and choose to select the ‘decline’ button, your invitation to apply will be declined. You may submit a new registration at any time, however, re-registration does not mean that you will receive another invitation to apply

Stage 3: Application

If your application information differs from your registration information, resulting in a decrease in your total registration score, and your revised registration score is below the minimum draw score at the time you were invited to apply, your application will be refused.

Stage 4: Decision

The BC PNP may refuse to accept an application in these cases:

• An invitation for an application does not apply to that person
• The person has retained a representative who does not meet the prescribed requirements, as described in section 4 of the Provincial Immigration Programs Regulation
• The applicant has had a previous approval canceled by the BC PNP
• The applicant has, in the 2 years immediately before the date of the application, been found by the BC PNP to have made a misrepresentation in a previous application
• The applicant has another active application and/or registration

If you are nominated by the BC PNP, you will receive an additional 600 points in the federal Express Entry pool.

Stage 5: IRCC application

If your application is approved, you will receive a nomination to apply to IRCC for permanent residence. You have six months from the date on your confirmation of nomination to apply to IRCC for a permanent resident visa. IRCC will assess your application and make the final decision on your visa. With this nomination, you may be eligible to receive a work permit support letter that you can apply to IRCC to obtain or renew a work permit to start or continue working in B.C. for your employer while you await the decision on your permanent residence application. 

Before the IRCC invites you to apply, in case your Express Entry profile expires, you must create a new one and inform the BC PNP.

Stage 6: Permanent Residence

If you are invited by the IRCC to apply for the permanent residence, make sure you submit any additional documents they require, pay the fees and be prepared for an interview if necessary.

Must-have documents

Once be invited to apply, you must prepare these documents:

For the principal applicant:

• Copy of Express Entry Candidacy from IRCC
• Copy of Canadian immigration records (if applicable)
• Valid B.C. drivers license (if required by the employment offer)
• Copy of biographical page of the passport
• Current photograph
• Copy of LMIA (if applicable)
• Copy of education and/or training certificates
• Copy of Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) (if applicable)
• Copy of Official Language Test Results
• Current resume/CV
• Spouse or Common-Law partner’s B.C. employment record (if applicable)

Your employer also has the responsibility to prepare these documents:

• BC PNP job offer form
• Employer recommendation letter
• Copy of the offer of employment
• Detailed job description
• Company information
• Copy of the Certificate of Incorporation (or legal equivalent)
• Copy of the valid municipal Business License
• Evidence of recruitment efforts (if applicable)

Non-English documents must be translated by a certified translation with photocopies of the originals. Documents must be stamped and certified by a person officially authorized to notarize documents as accurate translations

Cost

You must submit the $700 application fee with your online application before your application will be processed. Incomplete applications will not be approved, and application fees will only be refunded if you withdraw your application before the BC PNP begins to assess it.

You may also be prepared to pay additional costs, includes: translating, language test, ECA, rights of permanent residence fee (if you are invited),…

After you apply

Y can contact the BC PNP in writing by sending an email to the address PNPinfo@gov.bc.ca to withdraw your application and find out if you are eligible for a refund. Make sure in your email, you provide fully your full name, your date of birth, and your BC PNP application file number in your email request. Withdrawal requests submitted in-person or through voicemail will not be accepted.

For the applicant who gets a refusal, you can request a review of the decision within 30 days since being noticed about the decision. You must submit your written review request on the BCPNP online. The reasons for the request must be declared clearly in the review request and you should provide any information the BC PNP requires you. The review fee is $200 CAD and non-refundable.