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British Columbia invited 67 Express Entry and Skills Immigration candidates to apply for a provincial nomination for permanent residence through its Tech Pilot on September 8.

The is a fast-track immigration pathway for in-demand tech workers and international students.

All Tech Pilot candidates invited by the (BC PNP) are required to have a job offer that is at least one year (365 days) in duration in one of the pilot’s .

The September 8 draw saw invitations issued to candidates in the and categories of the (EEBC) and .

Selected candidates in all the subcategories needed a minimum provincial score of 80.

Candidates registered under the Express Entry BC categories will be awarded an additional 600 points toward their (CRS) if their provincial nomination application is approved. These points effectively guarantee an (ITA) for Canadian permanent residence at a later federal draw.

The rest of the candidates invited under the Skills Immigration categories will have applications for Canadian permanent residence processed directly by (IRCC) once a is issued by British Columbia.

To apply for the Skills Immigration or Express Entry BC categories candidates must first create a profile through the BC PNP’s online portal and register under its (SIRS).

Applicants are evaluated and issued a score based on factors such as level of education, work experience, proficiency in English and location of employment.

Key features of the BC PNP Tech Pilot

BC PNP draws aimed specifically at technology workers started in May 2017. The province has a thriving technology industry with some big names of the tech world basing themselves in Canada’s westernmost province.

In addition to promoting access to the skills and talent of the province's workers, the goal of the Tech Pilot is to enable companies to attract skilled workers from around the world.

The Province of British Columbia is working to ensure that the presence of technology entrepreneurs and skilled workers from other countries can contribute to the growth of the technology sector and that this will result in a greater number of jobs for British Columbians.

BC PNP Tech Pilot Job Offers must be:

• for one of the 29 targeted occupations;
• at least one-year duration; and
• at least 120 days at time of application.

Eligible Tech Pilot occupations include:

• Telecommunication carriers managers;
• Civil engineers;
• Database analysts and data administrators;
• Translators, terminologists and interpreters;
• Graphic designers and illustrators;
• Information systems testing technicians;
• Audio and video recording technicians;
• Chemical engineers.

For a complete list of occupations, .

British Columbia issues weekly invitations to the highest-scoring technology sector registrants.

According to the BC PNP website, the processing time for most BC PNP applications is 2-3 months from the time they are received. As with the Tech pilot, applications are generally processed in a shorter amount of time.

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